As a PGCE applicant studying towards a masters degree, I’ve heard various tales about whether you start on a different pay scale if you have a postgraduate qualification.
I’m wondering if this is true as I can’t find any information online supporting this. If it is the case, might this be likely to dissuade schools from employing me because of higher salary demands compared with other applicants?
New teachers normally start on the first point of the main pay scales.
There are now four of these: three for schools in the London area and a fourth for schools in the remainder of England and Wales. In September 2005, starting pay will vary between pound;19,161 and pound;23,001 depending on where your school is.
You may be awarded discretionary points for years of experience when you were working not as a classroom teacher, where the experience is considered of “value to the performance of the classroom teacher’s duties”. If the school wanted it thus, this might include having a relevant higher degree; but it would not be a mandatory payment.
There are sometimes locally negotiated arrangements, so it worth checking when you are offered a teaching post. However, if the extra cash makes you too expensive for a school, you might find you are not offered the job.
With the main scale now only six points long, finding a teaching post might be the most important thing to concentrate upon.
