Teacher Salaries

teacher salaries across the globe

Published: October 12th, 2021

Teaching our future generations is one of the most important jobs in the world; it is also one of the most difficult. Interactive whiteboards help teachers and students make the most of every moment in the classroom, improving teacher-student collaboration, productivity, and engagement.

Even with the help of technology, teachers work incredibly hard and should be rewarded for all of their hard work. We all know that teachers work increasingly long hours, but in which country do teachers work the most and in which are they paid the most for their work?

Lithuania has seen the greatest salary increase for primary, lower and upper secondary teachers

Looking at the salaries of 32 OECD countries, we found that Lithuania has seen a staggering increase of 52.26% in teacher salaries from 2018-2019, making it the greatest increase in wages over this period.

However, Luxembourg has the highest-paid teachers, with salaries reaching £75,116  and £80,930 for primary and secondary schools, respectively. 

salary increases for primary schools ranked

salary increases for lower secondary schools ranked

salary increases for upper secondary schools ranked

In the UK, outside of London, the region that pays the highest for teachers is Scotland, which, on average, pays £41,350 per year. This is slightly higher than the whole UK average of £40,038.

Annual pay by UK region

Teachers in the Americas work the highest number of hours per year

  • Primary Working Hours – 1,004 hours worked – United States
  • Lower Secondary Working Hours – 1,014 hours worked – Mexico 
  • Upper Secondary Working Hours – 999 hours worked – Chile

Americas primary and secondary teacher working hours

Teachers in Europe work the lowest number of hours per year

  • Primary Working Hours – 554 hours worked – Poland
  • Lower Secondary Working Hours – 475 hours worked – Poland 
  • Upper Secondary Working Hours – 405 hours worked – Denmark

European primary and secondary teacher working hours

teacher hours per year worked by country

Students in Australia, Colombia and Denmark receive on average the most instruction time per year

  • Primary Instruction Hours – 11,060 hours – Australia
  • Lower Secondary Instruction Hours – 1,200 hours – Colombia & Denmark
  • Upper Secondary Instruction Hours – 1,200 hours – Colombia

Australia, Denmark and Colombia student instruction hours per year

Students in Europe receive, on average, the least instruction time per year

  • Primary Instruction Hours – 5,334 hours – Poland
  • Lower Secondary Instruction Hours – 766 hours – Slovenia
  • Upper Secondary Instruction Hours – 756 hours – Portugal

average hours per year of instruction time for students by country

Methodology

Using 32 OECD countries, for which data was available, we used data on teachers salaries, students’ instruction time in compulsory education and teaching hours from OECD themselves to find the percentage increase for salaries from 2018-2019, how long students are being taught for and the number of hours per year worked. 

As data for the United Kingdom was not available from this source, we acquired data on the annual salaries for full-time employees in teaching and educational professionals by region from the ​​” earnings and hours worked, region by occupation by four-digit SOC” ONS dataset.

Conclusion

Teachers across the world do some of the hardest yet most important work. There are many gaps in pay and hours worked and also gaps for students in instructional hours. Education Technology helps bridge those gaps by increasing student engagement and making things a bit easier for teachers. 

The Promethean ActivPanel interactive display brings learning to life in the classroom. With features like device mirroring, screen sharing, unlimited whiteboard space, bluetooth connection to lab devices and much more, teachers and students will reap the benefits immensely. 

Let us help you create a fully engaged classroom. Schedule your FREE live demo with a Promethean expert today!