Teachers pay - how much you get when training and when qualified

TSR Wiki > Careers > Career Options > Teaching > Teachers pay - how much you get when training and when qualified

With all the different routes in to teaching, it's important to know what sort of funding is available for you when training. You might also be interested to know how much you could earn when qualified too. So read on to find out just what is on offer.

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Funding for Teacher Training

PGCE and ISCITT Students

Most people will train to be a teacher on an initial teacher training (ITT) course. This includes those doing PGCEs and ISCITT. These all have the same basic funding structure.

To cover the tuition fees you have to pay (which vary depending up on your university or course provider) you may be entitled to a tuition fees loan and grant. This is applied for in the same way as undergraduate loans.

You may also be entitled to a bursary, depending upon the subject you train to teach in. For those training in the year 2010/11 these are the bursaries available:

GTP and RTP Training

For people taking the GTP and RTP routes they will be based mostly in school and will be paid by the school. The amount you get paid will vary depending upon your experience and responsibilities you take on, but you will receive at least the unqualified teacher salary (in 2009 that will get you £15,461). The school will get £14,000 towards this and up to £4,920 a year to cover the training costs.

Teach First

Those on the Teach First route will be paid as an unqualified teacher during their first year (currently £15,461 in 2009) and then will be paid at the newly qualified teacher rate during the second year (see below for details of how much this is).

Undergraduate Teaching Courses

Those studying for an undergraduate course which leads to QTS status will follow the same [How to Apply for Student Finance|funding options as for any other undergraduate degree.]

Teachers' Salary

When you finish your teacher training, the amount you get paid varies depending upon your experience, your extra responsibilities and also the location of your school. The newly qualified teachers (NQTs) starting work in September 2009 will be earning at least £21,102 in their first year.

Teachers' Main Pay Scale

Every one will start on the minimum amount, depending upon the region they start work in. Each year you could progress up the scale to reach the maximum pay (usually after about 6 years of teaching). Each year these amounts may additionally increase due to general pay increases for teachers.

Unqualified Teacher Pay Scale

People who are not fully qualified as teachers in the UK (usually because they are working towards a teaching qualification) will be paid on the following scale:

Further Pay Scales and Payments

If you take on additional teaching and learning responsibilities (TLR) then you may be entitled to additional payments. There are two levels; TLR2 would give you extra pay of between £2,478 and £6,057 during 2009 while TLR1 would give you at least £7,158 and up to £12,114 on top of your usual salary.

Once you reach the top of the main pay scale you could go up to the 'Post-threshold pay scale' where you could earn up to £35,929 (up £43,692 in inner London).

If you apply for and get the status of an 'advanced skills teacher' you could end up earning up to £55,669 (£62,596 in inner London), though you will have to keep up regular assessments to keep this status and would fall back down to a lower level should you fail to keep it.

On top of this, leadership group teachers (such as headteachers and deputy heads) could earn even more. A headteacher will earn at least £41,426 (for example, in a small primary school in England), but could earn up to £109,658 (for example in a large inner London secondary school in deprived area.

Note: all figures are correct for the year starting 2009/10. Each year the pay scales are all usually adjusted, depending up on pay increases.