Colleges could pay teachers more but are choosing not to

The pay gap between school and college teachers has reached its widest level in 15 years.

But we rarely hear of similar pay gaps for college CEOs, senior leaders, professional staff or other college employees.

Do we pay teaching staff less simply because we can? And could we do something about it if we wished?

In addition to funding, there are four reasons for the gap:

School teachers are graduates, college teachers often aren’t

Almost every schoolteacher is a graduate, compared to about half of college teachers. The UK graduate earnings premium has fallen sharply but is still about 45 per cent. Colleges sell higher education courses as a way of increasing earnings, so surely we would expect schoolteachers to earn more? 

Sixth form college teaching is a graduate profession and a comparison of staff costs with general FE colleges is instructive. 

The audited finance record for 2023-24 shows median sixth form college teacher pay (including pensions) at £64,128 is 25 per cent higher than for general FE colleges. There is also less variability in sixth form college figures, suggesting they match schoolteacher salaries.

College teachers have fewer options to increase pay

While sixth form college teachers could all work in schools, that is not true of college teachers. However, it is argued college teachers can always go back to industry. 

But the latest Office for National Statistics data shows FE teaching pays better than equivalent roles in leisure, sport, business, arts, hair and beauty, and even some areas of construction.  Only areas like finance, engineering and IT offer a better financial deal.

Colleges do not discriminate in favour of teachers like schools do

Colleges are scrupulously fair when it comes to pay rises. Our negotiating machinery treats all college staff (other than senior leaders) in the same way.

But the government treats schoolteachers as a special case with their own pay review body.  Unsurprisingly, they get bigger pay awards and better progression.

Colleges divert resources to non-teaching activity

In recent years there’s been an uplift in employer and business development-related activity in colleges, including things like sponsorship of events. Our most expensive staff spend much of their time doing this. 

But the funding model of schools and colleges is identical – funding follows the learner. Trust CEOs, school heads and sixth form college leaders don’t spend as much time on such activities. 

And the latest finance record shows this increase in employer activity has been accompanied by drops in related student numbers in the last three years.

HE numbers are down 30 per cent, 16-18 apprentices fell 3 per cent, adult apprentices dropped 20 per cent and adult students declined by 1 per cent. 

In contrast, the boom in 16-18 student numbers means colleges increasingly resemble schools in terms of their student population and levels of study. This presents real questions about the effectiveness of employer engagement.

To close the gap, here are some suggestions for an FE teacher pay policy:

• Take teachers out of national negotiations and commit to at least matching the rises given to schoolteachers, and to senior teams, even if that leaves less available for other staff.
• Use audited finance record data for average FTE teacher cost (which is surely a more important league table than CEO pay) to put pressure on colleges well adrift from the median.
• Push governing bodies and senior teams to scrutinise their spending on employer engagement and sponsorship activities to ensure it’s worth the investment.

If we aren’t that serious about this issue, then let’s be honest with our teachers and say we’ll let government funding and the labour market dictate salary levels instead.