Around 60,000 euros a year: That's how much a teacher earns on average at his start of employment in Germany, according to an OECD educational study. Thus, the starting salary of teachers is almost twice as high as the average of the 36 OECD member states. On average, teachers have to settle for 34,094 US dollars, that is about 31,000 euros.
Once a year, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its study "Education at a Glance" highlights the state of educational landscapes in OECD countries. She compares worldwide data on kindergarten, school attendance and studies.
One focus this year is on paying teachers in lower secondary education. However, the values quoted in the study deviate from the monthly sums that teachers earn in different countries. The scientists do not count on the actual salaries, but on the so-called purchasing power of these salaries. That is, they have taken into account that German teachers have to spend more on food, other goods and services than, for example, Bulgarian teachers.
Only in Luxembourg do teachers earn more than in Germany. Even the starting salary is there purchasing power adjusted at just under 80,000 US dollars. Much of the current expenditure in the German school business accounts for the staff: 82 percent of the total costs.
Nevertheless, teachers 'associations have long been calling for an increase in teachers' salaries - among other things, to make the profession more attractive and to counteract the shortage of teachers. And indeed, the data presented has a limitation: Although the salary of a German teacher at the beginning of his career is comparatively high. But the subsequent increase is small: In the course of a German teacher life, the wage increases by only about a third, in the OECD average, it is almost 90 percent.
The Trade Union for Education and Science (GEW) also sees the data as critical. "Within the teaching staff, there are large salary differences.It is crucial, whether someone is employed or officiated, in which school form and in which state he teaches," said a spokeswoman to the SPIEGEL. An average value is therefore not very meaningful.
If one calculates the expenditure per pupil , Germany also occupies a high place in the OECD comparison with rank four. In Germany, they are at general education schools and vocational schools at the equivalent of around 10,200 euros per year.
More people are attracted to the universities
In the field of university education , Germany is obviously less generous than paying its teachers at schools. In research and development, the German state is indeed a lot of money. According to the study, however, he invests only 8,000 euros per student per year in basic education, which is 1,350 euros less than all OECD countries on average. Meanwhile, more and more people are attracted to higher education: Last year, one-third of young adults between the ages of 25 and 34 graduated. In 2008, it was barely a quarter.
However, a university certificate today hardly protects you better from unemployment than the Abitur. While the employment rate among people with a high school diploma has risen to 84 percent, it has been stable among university graduates for years at 88 percent. In the past year, the OECD had already shown in its report that people with vocational training in the labor market also have similar opportunities as people with a university degree.
Differences in salary: Studying is not always useful
As in previous years, OECD researchers criticized gender pay gaps, highlighting the gap between women and men with university degrees. According to this study, a female graduate earns just 72 percent of the average salary of a male university graduate. This number is below the OECD average of 77 percent.
In lower education, however, the wage gap between the sexes is less pronounced: women with a high school diploma or equivalent earned about 85 percent of the salary of a man of similar qualifications in Germany - and thus significantly more balanced in comparison to other countries.
The reason for the salary differences, among other things, the scientists mention that women worked more often than men part-time and selected jobs that would be paid from the outset worse. However, other studies have shown that the same occupation also varies according to gender. In the European comparison, Germany has in the past even been at the bottom in paying women.