Teachers’ pay among the worst hit by cutbacks

The pay of Irish teachers has been among the worst hit by cuts to education systems across 34 countries, the European Commission has reported.

While a 20% increase in teachers’ income over the previous decade was one of the highest across Europe, the report — to coincide with World Teachers’ Day — highlights the impact on entrants to the profession.

Teachers who have started work since the beginning of 2011 started on 13% less than others, while those appointed since last February faced a further 20% drop on foot of suspended qualification and other allowances.

Although these have subsequently been stopped for anybody who started teaching after last February as part of last month’s public service allowance review, a revised salary scale for new teachers has slightly reduced the overall impact of the cuts. The starting pay of any new teacher since Feb 1 is €30,702, compared to €32,240 for those who started between Jan 2011 and that date, or almost €37,000 for new teachers in 2010.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation says the difference between earnings in the first decade for those starting this year and in 2011 will be almost €4,400 but would rise to over €100,000 across a 40-year career, or €250,000 when compared to a 2010 entrant.

The pay of serving teachers before the signing of the Croke Park deal in 2010 cannot be cut by Government.

However, the three unions representing teachers are preparing an equality case on behalf of those who started last year on the grounds of age discrimination, which they hope could make the campaign to reverse the cuts easier. “It’s not conscionable or fair that people doing the same job are on different pay rates and it simply has to be and will be put right, the only question is when and how,” INTO deputy general secretary Noel Ward told recently-qualified teachers in Cork this week.

The European Commission report says Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, and Slovenian teachers were worst affected by budget restrictions. Greece cut teachers’ basic pay by 30% and stopped paying Christmas and Easter bonuses. In Spain, salaries of teachers and public servants were cut by 5% in 2010.

At his inauguration a week ago, the new president of St Patrick’s College in Dublin, Dr Daire Keogh, warned cuts to new teachers’ pay could make the profession less attractive. He said ending payment of qualifications allowances to serving teachers would disincentivise them from improving their skills.