Abstract
Teaching has for a long time been seen as a career that isn’t financially lucrative. When looking at the teacher pay, we all find that teachers all over the world are making good living because they are doing something which they love. Teachers’ pay may be lower or higher depending on the place they are teaching. Those teachers, who teach in urban areas, are paid higher salaries than those that are in upcountry. It does not matter if they all have grade K12. Some of the school districts pay salaries which are higher, for the first five to ten years, in a way of attracting new teachers and also retaining them. Those districts schools which do not have enough teachers are desperately looking for teachers to offer them incentives like, a help with buying a new home, help with relocation or a signing bonus.
According to a recent article in the New York Times, suggested that K-12 teachers should start to be paid 65k in a year which will make up to 150k. Most people have agreed that teachers do not make enough from what they do. Therefore, their salaries should be raised according to what they offer children. The teacher layoff crisis have threatens the public education all over America. Because of local budgets and shrinking state, up to three hundred thousand teachers, could all be laid-off. This will lead to devastation consequences to the children like burgeoning class size. This lay off is due to the fact that there are more teachers and less money to pay them. This has led to most teachers in the United States to be paid less money. There is need for K-12 teachers and also other teachers to be paid higher salaries since they are the ones doing a lot of work to ensure that children and students have a better future through learning (Teacherportal.com, 2010)
If teachers were surveyed according to their financial value, it’s likely that few teachers are the ones who are overpaid. Most teachers would argue that they deserve an increment in their salaries more than what they are compensated. Research all over the world confirms that teachers are critically of importance to the success of students, yet some subject areas like foreign languages, science and math suffer long-term shortages of teachers. Improving the quality of teachers and also alleviating shortages may require comprehensive approach to the educator talent management. Compensation of salary is the only element that can’t be addressed without the substantial additional funding. In the report that was conducted by McKinsey and Company, high beginning salaries of teachers were among the main factors that differentiated the systems of top performing schools from teachers’ less effective counterparts.
According to Sabrina, today’s competition in global economy requires that United States’ children embrace rather than shying away from math, foreign languages and science languages. Due to investing stimulus dollars to attract and also retain teachers, the American students now have emerged and prepared to create new innovations that stimulate further the economy of U.S. Many qualified teachers deserve to be paid higher salaries which will not fix schools. A lot of money can make a difference if only carefully targeted. High salaries could enlarge pool of applicants which will make schools to choose teachers who are qualified. This could also decrease or reduce teacher turnover that would benefit the students. If the stimulus funds increase teachers’ salaries without seeing any changes in how they teach or who is hired, these revenues may eventually be wasted (Sabrina Laine, 2010)
Quality improvement of teaching requires a lot of effort than higher salaries. Leadership and vision from the administration is crucial. Professionally development that is of the right kind is always necessary. Teachers’ cooperation is central and it can’t simply be bought. More innovative, conceptual or the balanced instruction is important in enhancing learning. In order for schools to be improved, there has to be a need to invest in different resources. Some of the resources are compound meaning that smaller classes and professional development enables educators and teachers to teach students differently, with adequate facilities like computers and also support for teachers to use those facilities well. Other facilities are complex, like new approaches and strong leadership to instruction.
The American Federation of Teachers every few years releases a report of the Teacher Salary trends about teacher salaries in U.S. This helps all teachers to decide where they should teach and how much they will get from earning. According to the latest report showed that the average salary of a teacher was about $47,602. The report also indicated that teachers are mostly struggling to find housing areas where they can afford which will fit their salaries. More teachers as they pursue the additional education immediately after they receive their bachelor’s degree, the student’s loan debt dramatically increases. New teachers are the ones who struggle much because; they will not start with the average teacher salary like the veteran teachers who have higher salaries. This shows that there is need to increase salaries of new teachers and also those of K12 teachers.
Teacher union officials’ schools emphasize that blanket increases in the salaries of teachers are among the ways of achieving improved education system. They think that higher teacher salaries would compensate for increased responsibilities taken by teachers. They maintain salaries of teachers haven’t been competitive within job market which has made the profession not to attract the best and brightest (Hannah and Richard, 2002). Many concerns have been raised about attracting the better qualified teachers and also justifying their increases salaries which has made proposals to go beyond the board pay increases (Hannah and Richard, 2002)
Poorly performing teachers should expeditiously be removed from school system.
Superior teachers are the ones who should earn more money than the average teachers.
Those teachers who perform more difficult tasks should be given higher pay.
Pay hikes across the board should be resisted or discontinued(Hannah and Richard, 2002)
5.5% of all the traditional school districts report about using incentives like salary increases, cash bonuses and additional salary steps in rewarding excellent teaching. Out of all this, only 5 states offer retention bonuses in keeping teachers in high-need schools. Public Agenda Survey of teachers that was conducted in 2003 found that 70% supported the giving extra pay to the teachers who are teaching in tough neighborhood where schools are performing poorly while, 67% supported it for those teachers who consistently work harder. The compensation of teachers should be based on performance and not just credentials and experience. This will make teachers to add extra motive when they are teaching since they will know that performance of students will make them earn more money. Most Districts determine salaries by using a negotiated grid whereby, pay is strictly a function of how many years’ teachers has taught in that district and also the number of credits or degrees he/she has acquired. When paying for critical skills and performance does more than when delivering rewards to those who most deserve it.
Teachers’ salaries should:
Compare favorably with paid salaries in different occupations requiring equivalent or similar qualifications.
Reflect importance to the society of teaching function and also the importance of teachers and their responsibilities which fall upon them.
Take account of certain posts that require higher experience and qualifications and carry greater responsibilities.
Provide teachers with means of ensuring that a reasonable living standard for themselves and also their families.
Conclusion
Teaching is a career of paramount importance since it helps students to have a better future. The government should ensure that the crisis facing education sector especially teaching do not occur in the near future. It should also ensure that teachers are paid salaries which are convenient to their level of teaching. Teachers should be paid according to the agreement with teachers’ organization. Qualified teachers should not be paid on a lower salary wage but on a high wage. Poorly performing teachers should not expect much from higher salaries but instead they should pull up their socks to ensure that students perform excellent.
References
Hannah S and Richard S (2002). Would Higher Teacher Salaries Improve Teacher Quality? The Heartland Institute Pub. 1-6
Sabrina Laine (2010). Raise Teachers’ Salaries.
Teacherportal.com (2010). The Teacher Salary. 1-5.
