According to the National Foundation for Educational Research, teachers in further education are paid about a quarter less per year than their colleagues elsewhere in the sector.
The NFER also found that they tend to earn less in the industry jobs where their trades began, and this gap has widened since the last decade.
The NFER report Building A Stronger FE Workforce highlights that salaries are only one aspect of the struggle to retain and recruit further education teachers.
The Gatsby Charitable Foundation commissioned the analysis, which was based on interviews conducted with FE college instructors and department heads in the sectors of construction, engineering, and digital.
Teachers at FE highlighted that they found teaching to be a rewarding role, with many benefits in comparison to other occupations or self-employment. These included pension benefits and more holidays. Teachers in construction cited “more social, less irregular” hours as an advantage.
According to the Annual Survey of Earnings and Hours, engineers and digital teachers at FE will earn 11% less in 2021 than those in industry.
In the construction industry, FE teachers earn 3% less than their counterparts in the industrial sector. However, this does not include self-employment pay, which may make the gap even larger.
The pay gap between teaching and industry often prevents younger workers from moving, resulting in an aged workforce.
Analysis found that colleges recruited teachers at the highest pay scales in order to attract them to the role. However, this led to poor pay progression, which had a negative impact on morale and retention.
Teachers who were interviewed for the report complained about high workloads, and having to do a lot unfulfilling administrative work. Students’ behaviour and mental health problems were also exacerbated due to the pandemic.
The NFER wants the government to increase funding for FE so that it can match the teacher salaries in secondary schools. The NFER also wants the Department for Education (DfE) to commit to a recruitment and retention strategy for FE that is long-term.
Dawson McLean is a NFER economist, and co-author of the report. He said, “Further education plays a crucial role in England’s educational system, delivering technical and academic training that is vital for the supply skilled workers.
“However, a lack of focus in the past on the FE workers, along with inadequate funding for colleges, has led enormous challenges.
The FE workforce is at a disadvantage due to the widening gap between pay and industry, as well as a high workload.
The new government is committed to improving the supply of school teachers in England. This commitment should also apply to the FE workforce.
Jenifer Burden is the director of programs at Gatsby. She said that teacher issues were a “persistent problem” in all of the sectors featured in this report.
Nearly half of FE educators in the United States leave their profession within three to four years. The pay is an important factor, but there are other factors that influence teachers’ decisions. “We need more data on the number of people training to teach FE and their experience”, she said.
We hope that the research will be used to help inform policy decisions about FE teacher salaries, similar to the School Teachers’ Review Body’s work for school teachers.
Subscribe to our weekly HR news and guidance
Every Wednesday, receive the Personnel Today Direct newsletter.
