Why Do Teachers Compensated Appropriately
Are Educators compensated appropriately?
Are Educators compensated appropriately? As a society we view our jobs as a way to make money to support our lives and our families. What is meant for many of us are is that we have jobs as a basis for financial support. For others jobs can provide personal value and a sense of accomplishment. In actuality, we all need to work to pay our bills, earn money to eat, and raise a family, fairly textbook for most of us. However, there are a select few individuals who actually get to do what they love and get paid for it. These opportunities are rare at best for most of us. Many are in support of those that have a job and love doing what is needed. In some cases it is a reward …show more content…
to carry out this goal. One example of this type of profession is an Educator. A number of Educators do not get paid all that well, and they have to work with a cluster of kids that do not want to be at school a lot of the time and do not always listen to their teachers. Aside from having the summer off, to the outside observer there is little to be desired to work in such a profession. To the individuals that call themselves Educators this is not true, they love what they do. They love to work with kids, teach them the tools and skills as they grow into young adults. These individuals have one of the most important jobs in the world, to prepare our youth for life. If their jobs are so important, why is it that they do not make a lot of money like an executive officer of the company? Why do we not hold up their jobs in high regard and cherish every person in those positions? In this paper we will look at the profession of a teacher, their pay and why their positions are not the number one job sought after. There have been many studies completed regarding the pay of an Educator, their individual aptitudes and their impact on students in terms of test scores and results. Due to negotiated union pay structures and schedules Educators have a limited range of pay. The average Educator in the United States makes approximately $39,000 per year. (Leigh 2012) Some may remark that this is a fair pay for the amount of work a teacher does during that year. Can we say that the amount of work is equivalent to the amount of money a teacher makes? What about the responsibilities and tasks of the teachers. Is teaching our children worth more money? Such questions have been studied and discussed in all avenues of the teaching profession and in all walks of life. Is this job really worth more? According to a recent review of the economics of education “The relationship between average pay and teacher aptitude is positive and significant: a 1% rise in teacher pay (relative to other occupations requiring a college degree) is associated with approximately a 0.6 point rise in the average percentile rank of potential teachers”.
(Leigh 2012) In this study Leigh found that there is a direct correlation to student results if better teachers were hired. This is an economic disparity of sorts as in our current employment market for teachers “Forty seven percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company.(Kristoff, 2011). I think that we should pay our teachers what they are worth and hire the best to teach our …show more content…
young. A salary of $39,000 is not a lot to live on but it matches the current education level of which we are hiring and the results we expect out of them. If teachers are paid more money we need to raise the expectations and requirements for the positions. Once the new base is established, and the results start to improve, professionals who want to start teaching will understand what it takes to get those positions, work hard to get them and the employment base to hire professionals for teaching positions improves. Better professionals with better pay equals better results for our children. The typical workday of teachers far surpass that of an eight hour workday. Many other jobs require eight to ten hours a day depending on their workload for the day. Teachers go over and beyond this to ensure that all is done to teach effectively. There are daily requirements needed from Educators in order to meet the school corporations goals. "A current agreement between schools and unions states that teachers should spend time on "any reasonable activity" their head teacher instructs. There is no fixed limit on the number of hours teachers work a week, although full-time staff must be available for just over 32 hours. The contract between unions and schools states that teachers must be available to work "such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable the effective discharge of their professional duties". (Sheperd, 2013)
Duties needed over and beyond the hourly work day are not necessarily a requirement for a teacher but for some it can feel expected with the work load that is bestowed upon them. According to a blog at www.theguardian.com, six teachers told of how a typical day’s work was for them.
Most started around 7:30-8am every morning. But, this is not a job that ends once the children leave for the day. Most are teaching 4-5 hours a day. They are having duties within a school to do such as hall duty, playground duty, or even lunch duty. When these extra duties are required, most teachers don’t get a break. They only get lunch break. Between classes, grades are marked, lessons are prepared, and teachers are already thinking of what the next day or even the next week should bring. (Guardian Readers, 2013) Next there are duties that require teachers to go above and beyond the regular workday. Things like parent-teacher conferences, school events, and faculty meetings make their workday very long. Some teachers also help kids after school that struggle. If the stipulation was enough, most are using off time like weekends and school breaks to stay on top of managing the day to day aspects. Teachers often stay up later on school nights to finish their day’s work. With lesson plans and papers to grade, one would wonder how they manage the day to day duties outside of
teaching. It is almost impossible for educators to be paid more, as the budget set forth by our nation has put a hindering aspect to adequately compensate educators for their professional services. School budgets should moderately be increased in order to suffice the immensely educational growth and influx of students. Evidence has shown that teachers who are being underpaid are being put into unjustly pupil ratio sized classrooms. This impact has hindered educators to give quality education due to the fact that the portion of their day tends to behavioral issues that pupils bring into the classroom. Amid the influx of students to instruct, teachers can only attend to as many students as possible which can be a concern. Not only are students failing due to the lack of guidance and collaboration from home to school, the teachers then take on a larger role to their students. Classroom management then becomes key to teachers to distinguish what is allowed in the classroom and how to control behavioral issues students bring from home. The parents of students who lack education can affect school corporations as well. Educators can only do their best with the tools that the school board is providing them. The daily work load, is held exclusively on the teachers which holds them accountable for items out of their control. In order for a change to occur in the teachers’ pay scale. The education union workers should work harder to allow and retrieve a higher pay scale for their educators. The union is compensated to assist Educators to receive a healthy salary and to protect the best interest of the educators. A possible better solution is to get rid of the burdening union, and have a state association nominated to protect the best interests of the educators. This would alleviate any levels of selfishness that can come from a union. However, is the debate of compensation a legal or moral issue? Is it more so, that the teachers are substantially paid for their workload and time? Educators work an average 180 days a year, with an average 8 hour day. They conceivably earn a substantial rate of $58,000, which is dependent on their degree level, skillfulness and form of studies. " Consider three other countries renowned for their educational performance: Singapore, South Korea and Finland. In each country, teachers are drawn from the top third of their cohort, are hugely respected and are paid well (although that’s less true in Finland). In South Korea and Singapore, teachers on average earn more than lawyers and engineers, the McKinsey study found." (Kristoff, 2011).
When you calculate all the benefits granted, it can be shown that teachers are paid accordingly. Teachers and staff members of school corporations also have the advantage of doing extracurricular programs which pay in stipends. Every season there are different opportunities for stipends along with some that are paid. Salaries can be substantial, but when educators are unjustly purchasing materials because of budget cuts and lack of support, that annual salary is dwindled, and it is not a reasonable salary, especially when one has to constantly be taking on the role of counselor, educator, parent, and possibly tutor. In Conclusion, the studies reviewed and researched determined that the subject of salaries for Educators vary. There is no true generalization that merit pay does not advance all tended test scores or improve education. Nonetheless, Educators should be measured, to a reasonable and certain extent. However, it would be unmerited if the school system was solely measuring all educators exclusively on student performance. The measured principals should identify strong teaching practices of all educators. Consequently, advocates for merit pay or performance pay increases and decreases will always be a debatable discussion. Teaching should be seen as a form of Leadership within our communities and even more throughout our society. Once the level of respect and gratitude can be shown to our Educators then the question of compensation will no longer be an issue.
References
Guardian Readers. (2013, April 2). Six teachers on a typical workday | Education | theguardian.com [Web log post]. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.theguardian.com/education/blog/2013/apr/02/teachers-workload- holiday
Kristoff, N. D. (2011, March 12). Pay Teachers More. New York Times [New York], p. WK10. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/opinion/13kristof.html?_r=0
Leigh, A. (2012, June). Teacher pay and teacher aptitude. Economics of Education Review [Australia], pp. 41-53. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.andrewleigh.org/pdf/TeacherPayTeacherAptitude.pdf
Martin, C. (2011, March 13). Board to hear proposal for teachers’ pay. Columbia Daily Tribune [Columbia, MO]. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/education/board-to-hear-proposal-for- teachers-pay/article_8265b5d2-5a49-5508-b03b-b1eb42f36726.html
Protheroe, N. (2001, March). Performance Pay for Teachers. Principal Magazine, p. 28. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&s id=4c3bee22-6d80-4137-bfe6- fcd1673ff87d%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2 ZQ%3d%3d#db=eue&AN=508189095
Sheperd, J. (2013, April 2). Limit teaching to four hours a day, says union | Education | The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/apr/02/limit-teaching-four-hours-a- day-union
Are Educators compensated appropriately? As a society we view our jobs as a way to make money to support our lives and our families. What is meant for many of us are is that we have jobs as a basis for financial support. For others jobs can provide personal value and a sense of accomplishment. In actuality, we all need to work to pay our bills, earn money to eat, and raise a family, fairly textbook for most of us. However, there are a select few individuals who actually get to do what they love and get paid for it. These opportunities are rare at best for most of us. Many are in support of those that have a job and love doing what is needed. In some cases it is a reward …show more content…
to carry out this goal. One example of this type of profession is an Educator. A number of Educators do not get paid all that well, and they have to work with a cluster of kids that do not want to be at school a lot of the time and do not always listen to their teachers. Aside from having the summer off, to the outside observer there is little to be desired to work in such a profession. To the individuals that call themselves Educators this is not true, they love what they do. They love to work with kids, teach them the tools and skills as they grow into young adults. These individuals have one of the most important jobs in the world, to prepare our youth for life. If their jobs are so important, why is it that they do not make a lot of money like an executive officer of the company? Why do we not hold up their jobs in high regard and cherish every person in those positions? In this paper we will look at the profession of a teacher, their pay and why their positions are not the number one job sought after. There have been many studies completed regarding the pay of an Educator, their individual aptitudes and their impact on students in terms of test scores and results. Due to negotiated union pay structures and schedules Educators have a limited range of pay. The average Educator in the United States makes approximately $39,000 per year. (Leigh 2012) Some may remark that this is a fair pay for the amount of work a teacher does during that year. Can we say that the amount of work is equivalent to the amount of money a teacher makes? What about the responsibilities and tasks of the teachers. Is teaching our children worth more money? Such questions have been studied and discussed in all avenues of the teaching profession and in all walks of life. Is this job really worth more? According to a recent review of the economics of education “The relationship between average pay and teacher aptitude is positive and significant: a 1% rise in teacher pay (relative to other occupations requiring a college degree) is associated with approximately a 0.6 point rise in the average percentile rank of potential teachers”.
(Leigh 2012) In this study Leigh found that there is a direct correlation to student results if better teachers were hired. This is an economic disparity of sorts as in our current employment market for teachers “Forty seven percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company.(Kristoff, 2011). I think that we should pay our teachers what they are worth and hire the best to teach our …show more content…
young. A salary of $39,000 is not a lot to live on but it matches the current education level of which we are hiring and the results we expect out of them. If teachers are paid more money we need to raise the expectations and requirements for the positions. Once the new base is established, and the results start to improve, professionals who want to start teaching will understand what it takes to get those positions, work hard to get them and the employment base to hire professionals for teaching positions improves. Better professionals with better pay equals better results for our children. The typical workday of teachers far surpass that of an eight hour workday. Many other jobs require eight to ten hours a day depending on their workload for the day. Teachers go over and beyond this to ensure that all is done to teach effectively. There are daily requirements needed from Educators in order to meet the school corporations goals. "A current agreement between schools and unions states that teachers should spend time on "any reasonable activity" their head teacher instructs. There is no fixed limit on the number of hours teachers work a week, although full-time staff must be available for just over 32 hours. The contract between unions and schools states that teachers must be available to work "such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable the effective discharge of their professional duties". (Sheperd, 2013)
Duties needed over and beyond the hourly work day are not necessarily a requirement for a teacher but for some it can feel expected with the work load that is bestowed upon them. According to a blog at www.theguardian.com, six teachers told of how a typical day’s work was for them.
Most started around 7:30-8am every morning. But, this is not a job that ends once the children leave for the day. Most are teaching 4-5 hours a day. They are having duties within a school to do such as hall duty, playground duty, or even lunch duty. When these extra duties are required, most teachers don’t get a break. They only get lunch break. Between classes, grades are marked, lessons are prepared, and teachers are already thinking of what the next day or even the next week should bring. (Guardian Readers, 2013) Next there are duties that require teachers to go above and beyond the regular workday. Things like parent-teacher conferences, school events, and faculty meetings make their workday very long. Some teachers also help kids after school that struggle. If the stipulation was enough, most are using off time like weekends and school breaks to stay on top of managing the day to day aspects. Teachers often stay up later on school nights to finish their day’s work. With lesson plans and papers to grade, one would wonder how they manage the day to day duties outside of
teaching. It is almost impossible for educators to be paid more, as the budget set forth by our nation has put a hindering aspect to adequately compensate educators for their professional services. School budgets should moderately be increased in order to suffice the immensely educational growth and influx of students. Evidence has shown that teachers who are being underpaid are being put into unjustly pupil ratio sized classrooms. This impact has hindered educators to give quality education due to the fact that the portion of their day tends to behavioral issues that pupils bring into the classroom. Amid the influx of students to instruct, teachers can only attend to as many students as possible which can be a concern. Not only are students failing due to the lack of guidance and collaboration from home to school, the teachers then take on a larger role to their students. Classroom management then becomes key to teachers to distinguish what is allowed in the classroom and how to control behavioral issues students bring from home. The parents of students who lack education can affect school corporations as well. Educators can only do their best with the tools that the school board is providing them. The daily work load, is held exclusively on the teachers which holds them accountable for items out of their control. In order for a change to occur in the teachers’ pay scale. The education union workers should work harder to allow and retrieve a higher pay scale for their educators. The union is compensated to assist Educators to receive a healthy salary and to protect the best interest of the educators. A possible better solution is to get rid of the burdening union, and have a state association nominated to protect the best interests of the educators. This would alleviate any levels of selfishness that can come from a union. However, is the debate of compensation a legal or moral issue? Is it more so, that the teachers are substantially paid for their workload and time? Educators work an average 180 days a year, with an average 8 hour day. They conceivably earn a substantial rate of $58,000, which is dependent on their degree level, skillfulness and form of studies. " Consider three other countries renowned for their educational performance: Singapore, South Korea and Finland. In each country, teachers are drawn from the top third of their cohort, are hugely respected and are paid well (although that’s less true in Finland). In South Korea and Singapore, teachers on average earn more than lawyers and engineers, the McKinsey study found." (Kristoff, 2011).
When you calculate all the benefits granted, it can be shown that teachers are paid accordingly. Teachers and staff members of school corporations also have the advantage of doing extracurricular programs which pay in stipends. Every season there are different opportunities for stipends along with some that are paid. Salaries can be substantial, but when educators are unjustly purchasing materials because of budget cuts and lack of support, that annual salary is dwindled, and it is not a reasonable salary, especially when one has to constantly be taking on the role of counselor, educator, parent, and possibly tutor. In Conclusion, the studies reviewed and researched determined that the subject of salaries for Educators vary. There is no true generalization that merit pay does not advance all tended test scores or improve education. Nonetheless, Educators should be measured, to a reasonable and certain extent. However, it would be unmerited if the school system was solely measuring all educators exclusively on student performance. The measured principals should identify strong teaching practices of all educators. Consequently, advocates for merit pay or performance pay increases and decreases will always be a debatable discussion. Teaching should be seen as a form of Leadership within our communities and even more throughout our society. Once the level of respect and gratitude can be shown to our Educators then the question of compensation will no longer be an issue.
References
Guardian Readers. (2013, April 2). Six teachers on a typical workday | Education | theguardian.com [Web log post]. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.theguardian.com/education/blog/2013/apr/02/teachers-workload- holiday
Kristoff, N. D. (2011, March 12). Pay Teachers More. New York Times [New York], p. WK10. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/opinion/13kristof.html?_r=0
Leigh, A. (2012, June). Teacher pay and teacher aptitude. Economics of Education Review [Australia], pp. 41-53. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.andrewleigh.org/pdf/TeacherPayTeacherAptitude.pdf
Martin, C. (2011, March 13). Board to hear proposal for teachers’ pay. Columbia Daily Tribune [Columbia, MO]. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/education/board-to-hear-proposal-for- teachers-pay/article_8265b5d2-5a49-5508-b03b-b1eb42f36726.html
Protheroe, N. (2001, March). Performance Pay for Teachers. Principal Magazine, p. 28. Retrieved on August 24, 2014 from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=2&s id=4c3bee22-6d80-4137-bfe6- fcd1673ff87d%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2 ZQ%3d%3d#db=eue&AN=508189095
Sheperd, J. (2013, April 2). Limit teaching to four hours a day, says union | Education | The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/apr/02/limit-teaching-four-hours-a- day-union