Economics/Jim O'Leary: OECD report throws up issues of concern that might be addressed by amore discriminating response
At a time when they are on course to receive a 13 per cent pay increase, courtesy of benchmarking, it is instructive to analyse how Irish teachers' pay stacks up against that of their international counterparts. The OECD's annual Education At A Glance report, the latest edition of which was published last month, provides all the data needed for such an exercise.
But first, why do international comparisons of teachers' pay matter? At least two reasons spring to mind. On the one hand, what we pay our teachers has a significant influence on the tax burden. All other things being equal, if our teachers are paid more than teachers elsewhere, the cost competitiveness of the economy may be impaired. On the other hand, we need to attract good people to teaching in order to achieve high-quality educational outcomes and facilitate the creation of the skill set and knowledge base that will underpin future economic growth.
To the extent that pay is a factor in recruiting and retaining good teachers, this suggests an argument for paying them above the international norm in order to give us a competitive edge. But if this is to be the basis of policy, our understanding of the relationships between pay and educational outcomes and between educational outcomes and economic performance needs to be improved. International comparative data can help in that regard.
As it happens, teachers here are very well paid by international standards. The latest available data show that teachers in Ireland with 15 years' experience were paid 23 per cent more than the OECD average at primary level, 16 per cent more at lower secondary level and 9 per cent more at upper secondary level in 2001. The margins were somewhat smaller at other points on the scale, but still above the OECD average in virtually all cases.
These figures convey nothing about how the pay of teachers relative to other occupational groups in Ireland compares with relative pay elsewhere. Here, a useful measure is the ratio of a representative teacher's salary to per capita GDP or GNP. This simultaneously provides a rough indication of how financially attractive teaching is relative to other occupations and of the burden on the taxpayer that a teacher's salary represents. Again, our teachers are well ahead of the OECD average. In 2001, the ratios of salary after 15 years' experience to GNP per capita were 1.46, 1.47 and 1.47 for primary, lower secondary and upper secondary teachers respectively in Ireland. The equivalent ratios of salary to GDP for the OECD as a whole were 1.31, 1.34 and 1.43.
So, in 2001 Irish teachers were significantly better paid than their international peers on average, both in absolute terms and relative to the generality of other occupations. This, of course, was pre-benchmarking. Adjusting for the benchmarking award, the margins are considerably bigger. An Irish primary teacher with 15 years' experience, for example, will be paid a salary almost 40 per cent above the OECD average - a salary that, in absolute terms, will be exceeded by those paid in only two other European countries: Germany and Switzerland.
Can the fact that Irish teachers are better-paid be explained by longer hours of work or bigger classes? The evidence here is not persuasive. Irish primary teachers spend more time in the classroom than their international peers (915 hours a year compared with an OECD average of 750-800), but the reverse is true of secondary teachers. Moreover, total statutory working time (including hours worked outside the classroom) is far less for primary teachers in Ireland than in any other OECD member for which data are available (915 hours compared with a range of 1,153 to 1,940 hours in 15 other countries). As for class size, the average in Irish primary schools is above the OECD average (24.5 compared with 22.0), but again the reverse is true of secondary schools (21.9 compared with 24.0).
What about educational outcomes? Here, the report contains good news, at least up to a point. In terms of the reading literacy of 15-year-olds, Ireland is ranked fifth of 31 countries, well above the OECD average. Likewise, the scientific literacy of Irish 15-year-olds, while not quite as impressive (ninth out of 31), is still above the international average. When it comes to mathematical literacy, Ireland slides down the scale: 15-year-olds here rank 16th out of 31 and achieve a score just about in line with the average.
The extent to which these rankings reflect a superior educational system rather than the influence of broader cultural and societal influences, and the extent to which they can be validly used as justification for higher teachers' salaries, are matters of considerable debate. But even accepting that they might be so used, the question of degree would remain: can teachers' salaries up to 40 per cent above the OECD average be justified on these grounds?
Besides, the OECD report throws up issues of concern that might properly be addressed, not by a blanket increase in teachers' pay, but by a more discriminating response. Two areas in particular come to mind. The first is the huge gender imbalance amongst teachers: in Ireland, 82 per cent of primary teachers and almost 60 per cent of secondary teachers are women. One can speculate endlessly about the consequences of this in terms of role models for boys, but in short they are unlikely to be positive. In this connection it is worth noting that the OECD report shows boys trailing girls by a very large margin in reading literacy and engagement in reading. It seems reasonable to hypothesise that gender imbalance amongst teachers contributes to this.
Teaching needs to be made more attractive to men. One way of doing so would be to increase pay. However, it doesn't make sense to increase pay for everyone to the level that might be required to significantly raise the number of male teachers, since pay is already high enough to attract the existing cadre of teachers, including the great number (especially mothers) for whom the job's really big attraction is the family-friendly hours of work. One way of addressing the problem might be to offer two types of basic teaching contract: the first along the lines of the current contract; the second a contract specifying longer hours (the better to provide for extra-curricular activities) and carrying a commensurately higher salary.
Another area of concern, hinted at by Ireland's relatively disappointing performance in terms of scientific and mathematical literacy, relates to the difficulty of hiring teachers of different subjects. Here the OECD report provides data on the percentage of secondary students attending schools where there are difficulties hiring teachers, by subject area. Across the countries for which data are published, the relevant percentages are highest in the areas of maths, science and technology. This pattern is especially pronounced in the Irish case. If it persists, we are at risk of falling further behind the leading countries in terms of academic standards in science and maths, with predictable consequences for our ability to compete in related areas of economic activity. An obvious answer to the problem, though again not necessarily the only one, is to offer premium salaries to teachers of the relevant subjects.
Jim O'Leary is currently lecturing in economics at NUI-Maynooth. He can be contacted at jim.oleary@may.ie
