Teachers, allied educators to get pay raise from October

TEACHERS will get a pay raise from Oct 1, 2015, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said in a statement on Tuesday.

Those in various General Education Officer and Senior Education Officer grades will receive a 4-9 per cent increase in their monthly salaries.

This is "to ensure that their overall salary packages keep pace with the market" and "to signal the importance we place on teaching as a profession", MOE said.

Up to 30,000 teachers will be eligible in this round of salary adjustments.

MOE will also be introducing an annual payment for all trained teachers, which will dole out S$500 to S$700 in cash each September from 2016.

This replaces the Learning & Development Scheme which allows teachers to claim up to S$400 or S$700 per year for any learning-related expenses.

Allied educators will also get a 5 per cent increase in their monthly salaries from October. These are the people who support the work of teachers by managing the counselling and special education needs of children in schools. Up to 800 allied educators will be eligible for this round of salary adjustments.

In addition, a single salary structure for graduate and non-graduate teachers will kick in from October, in line with SkillsFuture's direction to recognise employees' skills beyond academic qualifications.

Currently, graduate and non-graduate classroom teachers are recruited and remunerated on separate salary structures due to the difference in their academic qualifications.

However, as for experienced non-graduate teachers who progress to take on leadership or senior teaching positions, MOE has been paying them based on the same salary structure as their graduate peers.

From October, the salary components for all graduate and non-graduate teachers will be similar. For instance, the long-term incentive plan for them will no longer be differentiated between graduates and non-graduates, as both groups will receive the same amount drawn by graduate teachers today.

Non-graduate teachers will also progress and be remunerated along the same salary structure as their graduate peers.

Nevertheless, graduate and non-graduate teachers will continue to be recruited at different starting points and salaries, reflecting market practice.

Similarly, MOE will be merging the graduate and non-graduate salary structures for its allied educators. This merging is targeted to take place in April 2016.