Higher Teacher Salary = Better Education
A recent conversation with a friend of mine, got me thinking about teacher salaries. I never thought that I would be a better teacher if I got paid more money. I am the type of teacher I am, and no matter what school I work at, and what pay I get, I still take care of my students the same way, and teach the same way. I did realiz that if I got paid significantly worse, where I couldn't afford to live off of just one job, and, let's say, I would need to get another night job (on top of my day teaching), then the students would suffer. However, I don't have two jobs, and I don't suffer financially, therefore I never understood how my teacher salary would affect how well my students would learn.
Well, my friend opened my eyes. He didn't present a very hard concept; it's just something I never thought of before: The higher the pay, the better/more people are attracted to the job, and in the long run, we get better teachers. This is so obvious, that I feel very stupid to admit that I never thought of it before. And, statistically it's true - at least in Canada.
In Canada, each district gets to decide individually the teacher pay scale, but the scale is very similar for every district in a particular province. Alberta has the highest teacher salaries (according to Alberta Learning Statistics), and consequently has the highest ranking in education (according to Statistics Canada). The correlation is amazing:
| Province | Teacher Starting Salary | Teacher Max Salary | Reading Literacy |
| Prince Edward Island | $30,341 | $59,657 | 517 |
| Newfoundland | $34,838 | $60,212 | 517 |
| New Brunswick | $33,776 | $62,292 | 501 |
| Quebec | $36,196 | $63,527 | 536 |
| Manitoba | $37,948 | $65,310 | 529 |
| Saskatchewan | $38,700 | $66,103 | 529 |
| Nova Scotia | $35,906 | $67,978 | 521 |
| British Columbia | $37,908 | $70,684 | 538 |
| Ontario | $37,043 | $73,472 | 533 |
| Alberta | $43,653 | $74,126 | 550 |
Note: The similarity is the same when taking into account math and science scores, however, just to prove my point, I included only the literacy score.
Internationally it is hard to get comparing statistics, as there are other factors contributing to salaries / education performance.
I think it is safe to say that the more worthy teachers are perceived in the community (in terms of money, because that's how "worth" is really measured in our society), the better education the students get! Wow - so obvious, yet so eye-opening (to me).
Don't jump to conclusions!
"Wow - so obvious"
no, not really. First I'd like to ask what "units" your reading literacy rates is in... "517" doesn't mean anything to me.
In addition, you may want to consider the differences in lifestyles and other conditions that exist between the provinces. Alberta is oil country, Onterio is the centre of government, heavy industry and commerce, British columbia has world-class ports
Notice how it's the provinces that contribute the most to the country's GDP that also have the higher literacy rates. Hmmmmmm. Higher per capita earnings result in high standards of living. People living in areas with higher standards of living place more emphasis on education. Perhaps it's not actually the teachers making the difference so much as the economy and lifesyle and resources to support the public education system (by provincial governmental jurisdiction)
Make a chart based on those
Make a chart based on those scores. I think you will see that the scores don't correlate with teacher's salaries. They are all over the board! Low-same-lower-higher-lower-same-lower-higher-lower-higher.
Alberta has the highest pay rate and highest literacy rate. Those are the only two that match.
Scatter Plot
I made a plot, and also checked the significance and Rsquared:
Everything points to significant results (p = .006), with 63% of the literacy rate corresponding to the salary of the teacher.
I don't agree that salary
I don't agree that salary reflects how "worthy" a teacher is or if the education is any better.
1) Cost of living varies throughout the country (notice how the maritimes have the lowest salary...salaries in the maritimes are lower and the cost of living is lower)
2) I've had many amazing teachers who make next to nothing and are "worth" much more than they make
3) I've had many lousy teachers who's teaching skills weren't "worth" what they made.
4)Money rarely has any corelation to "worth" when it comes to salaries.
A prime example is that a teacher may go to university for 5-7 years and work equally as hard and obtain a high GPA, wheras an Engineer may go to university for 4 years, obtain average to low marks and make almost double. Both jobs are needed for our society to move forward and both need education; however, one is paid more.
Another example: A university professor makes much more than an average high school teacher; however, high school teachers are much better at teaching (this may be because university professors are mainly there for research...but students are paying to be educated and they aren't necessarily getting what they've paid for).
Anyway, I'm rambling. My point is that you must take into account all variables before you can determine any corelation...a more accurate corelation would be price of living vs salary. Also, in most cases salary is NOT determined by "worth".
Salary and Worth
Salary is a reflection of your worth because that's how much someone is willing to pay for your services. One problem is that teaching is so aggregated and so lacking in standards that nobody really knows what they are paying for. I'm with you in that the good teachers are worth a ton, and the bad teachers are worthless.
Here are the problems:
1) Nobody flunks teacher school. Engineers at least are weeded down to a certain level of competence by the courses, but teachers can get by simply through putting in 4 years of time.
2) There are no standards, nothing you "have to know" to be a teacher.
3) Like all union professions nobody negotiates their own salary. A supremely competent person could get more money outside of teaching, where they could negotiate their ownh salary. That only serves to reduce the quality of teachers even more.
Misinformation
You are seriously misinformed about the teaching profession.
1. Of course students flunk out of "teacher school" (it's not called that). It's just like any other degree program. In some schools you have to maintain a minimum of 70% in each course or you are kicked out. The courses are difficult and based on both theoretical and practical knowledge (similar to engineering courses and most university courses). Also, in most Canadian universities it's a 5 year degree for Primary Education and a 4 year degree (B.A. or B.Sc.) followed by a 1 year degree for Intermediate/Secondary Education. Education is a competitive program and admission in based on an applicant's past academic career, GPA, references, personal essays, and relevant work or volunteer experience. Simply put, teachers do not "get by" by attending university.
2. It's naive to say "there are no standards, nothing you 'have to know' to be a teacher". Canadian education degree programs have specific courses that are mandatory based on guidelines outlined by provincial or federal standards. You also have to obtain practical work experience during your degree program. These courses teach you how to teach, how to engage students, assess learning disabilities, use different teaching methods for different types of learning, etc. Of course there are standards and there are many things you "have to know" in order to be a teacher.
3. The union negotiates the salary of teachers but teachers have to agree to the amount and terms. There are options to making more money as a teacher: upgrading your education for instance, working during summer school, etc. This does not degrade the quality of teachers.
Yes, teachers are underpaid but most of us decided to become teachers regardless of the salary because we love to teach.
I think the problem is that
I think the problem is that many of "us" decide not to become a teacher because we are so underpaid, and I am sure that if more of "us" would choose the teaching profession because we love it AND because we are paid properly, we would have a superior society.
I agree completely. As I
I agree completely. As I said in the post, I don't think I teach any differently depending on what I get paid. I think I'm a pretty decent teacher here in Quebec, but I wasn't any better in Alberta, where I made way more money.
The point is, that there is a certain attraction to new students going into a profession, deciding, among other factors, what is their salary going to be. If the salary is low for existing jobs, not many will choose the profession even if they would be fantastic teachers, and therefore our awesome profession is loosing great teachers to engineering or medicine or law.
I teach high school kids, and so many times the students come up to me and ask me "if a lawyer makes lots of money" or "if an astronaut makes good money". Money is an attraction in our world that we live in, therefore the salary of a teacher is in that way the "worth" that society puts on a profession.
I hate that I'm in a profession (being a teacher) that society thinks is not very "worthy". In fact, when I get a passport, I cannot ask a teacher to vouch for me - why not? Why is an engineer any more trustworthy?
Anyway, I agree that true worth can't be determined with salary. But unfortunately salary is the way society gives worth...
Higher teacher salary = better education
These statistics made me laugh. Alberta has a competative system, so that's why it's outperforming the rest of Canada: when a parent can shop for a school, the schools then have to compete for children.
Everywhere in Canada, they need to bring in school choice, and bring back accountability. I can't believe that a profession can never be paid according to job performance! That's unheard of in any other profession.
Cause or effect?
I don't think this gives us the whole picture, though. For example, if one area has a higher cost-of-living, the effective salary might still wind up being lower than another. Also, a location that pays teachers more may very well have a more affluent tax base, which brings in a whole other host of variables.
However, this is very interesting, and worth looking into.
You're right, I know how
You're right, I know how easily statistics can be manipulated to prove a point. But I was just amazed how easily I could get the numbers to show what I thought was true. I am originally from Alberta, and never in my life did I think that Alberta had the best education of all of Canada. If I was to guess, I thought Ontario or Quebec were on top. But as I looked for the stats, and saw that they mostly corresponded with the salaries, I was amazed. Thanks for the "devil's advocate" comment, though. It was definitely needed to remind us that stats don't prove anything.