For all levels taught, starting salaries in Canada and its provinces and territories were generally consistently higher than the OECD averages for its reporting countries. Overall in Canada, the starting salaries for each ISCED category were around $34,000 (US dollars) (Table D.2.2). By comparison, the OECD figures began at $28,523 for teachers in primary education, increased by $1,278 for beginning salaries of $29,801 for teachers in lower secondary institutions, then rose again by $1,098 to bring the starting salary for teachers in the upper secondary category to
$30,889 (all figures in US dollars).
Teachers’ salaries D2
The pattern of offering similar starting salaries across public elementary and secondary educational institutions seen in Canada is also evident in several other OECD countries. England, Scotland, Portugal, and Ireland, for example, all reported the same starting salaries for teachers in elementary and secondary schools, and their figures ranged between $30,000 and $33,000. Other countries also indicated identical starting salaries regardless of the level of education taught, but the salaries were much lower ($11,028 in the Slovak Republic; $11,876 in Estonia).
Japan and Greece, as well as Slovenia, with across-the-board starting salaries of approximately $25,000 to $27,000, fell in between.
Starting salaries in the United States were higher when compared with the approximately $34,000 (US dollars) recorded for Canada in 2009/2010 (Table D.2.2): just below $37,000 in US public elementary and secondary schools. At the maximum salary level, however, the salary figure for teachers teaching at the primary education level in Canada was $54,978, over $2,500 higher than the US salary figure of $52,137. But the maximum salary levels for both lower and upper secondary were quite similar in the two North American countries: $54,978 and $55,191,51 respectively, in Canada, compared with $55,259 and $55,199 in the United States.
Definitions, sources and methodology
The data on annual statutory teachers’ salaries were derived from the 2011 OECD-INES Survey on Teachers and the Curriculum and reflect the 2009/2010 school year. All information has been reported in accordance with formal policies for public educational institutions.
“Statutory salaries” refer to salaries according to official pay scales and schedules. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Yukon and the Northwest Territories, the annual statutory salaries are based on 2009/2010 salary scales in collective agreements between each jurisdiction’s teachers’ unions/associations/federations and the provincial or territorial government. In some provinces, however, namely Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia, these pay scales are established at the school-board level and there is no province-wide bargaining.52
The salaries reported are gross (total sum paid by the employer); i.e, they do not include the employer’s contribution to social security and pension (according to existing salary scales). It is gross salary from the employee’s point of view, since it includes the part of social security contributions and pension scheme contributions that are paid by the employees (even if deducted automatically from the employee’s gross salary by the employer. Salaries are “before tax” (before deductions for income taxes). Gross teachers’ salaries are presented in current Canadian dollars, to be compared with the averages for Canada, which were derived from the provincial values (Table D.2.1).
The average salary for Canada was calculated as a weighted average of all provinces (i.e., the territories are not included). Weights used depend on the salary calculated. For teachers at the beginning of their careers (starting salaries), the number of full-time educators younger than 30 was used. For teachers with 10 years of experience, the number of full-time educators aged 35 to 44 years was used. And, for teachers with 15 years of experience, as well as those at the top of the salary scale, the number of full-time educators aged 45 or older was used. The territories are excluded from the Canada average because the Elementary-Secondary Education Survey (ESES) does not report a breakdown by age for the number of full-time educators. Salaries have also been converted to US dollars using the purchasing power parity (PPP)53 for private consumption from the OECD National Accounts database - until last year, the OECD was using the purchasing power parity for gross domestic product (GDP); this allows international comparisons, and the same weighting applies for the calculation of the Canada level averages (Table D.2.2).
51. As previously mentioned, the slightly higher figure for Canada’s high school (upper secondary) teachers is due to the modestly higher starting salary reported for the Ontario teachers at this level.
52. In Ontario, the estimates are the midpoint of the range that is funded by the province. In Manitoba, estimates are averages across all school boards. In Alberta, the salaries shown reflect averages weighted on the student population in each school board. In British Columbia, salaries are those of the Surrey School District.
53. For Canada, the PPP adjustment factor for 2009/2010 is 1.3025 US$/CAN$, which takes into account differences in cost of living across countries. A similar adjustment for comparisons across provinces and territories could not be done as it would require provincial/territorial figures for PPP, which have not yet been developed.
“Starting salaries” capture the scheduled gross salary per year for a full-time teacher with the minimum training necessary to be fully qualified at the beginning of a teaching career. Salaries after 10 and 15 years of experience refer to the scheduled annual salaries of full-time classroom teachers with the minimum training necessary to be fully qualified and 10 or 15 years of experience. The salaries reported for “top of scale” refer to the scheduled maximum annual salaries for full-time classroom teachers with the minimum training necessary to be fully qualified for the job.
The number of “years from starting to top salary” (lower secondary education) was calculated as a weighted average based on figures submitted by the provinces and territories (data for Nunavut were not available), weighted using the number of full-time educators. (The number of full-time equivalent educators was used for the Northwest Territories as the number of full-time educators was not available.)
Note: The corresponding OECD indicator is D3, How much are teachers paid?.