An Unlikely Setting for Insight into the Australian Education System

Monday, August 1, 2016

On the train ride back to Sydney I had a lengthy conversation with a former teacher that is presently a casual relief teacher (US equivalent of a substitute teacher). The takeaway from that interaction was the revelation that Australia substitute is financially rewarded at a much higher level as compared to the school districts in the US. The rate of pay is A$400/day for a substitute in Australia. I had heard the same amount at a conference and did some fact checking. Wow! That is a monumental disparity! The daily substitute compensation in the US is often less than $100 per day. While I observed so many similarities on my journey, or inconsequential differences, this stands out as a major difference. The teacher salaries are more comparable: the top level teacher salary in Australia is approximately 15-20% higher than in our local area. This does not seem like a significant inequality compared to the 300% increase in substitute pay. Minimum wage is also significantly higher: $17.70 per hour in Australia as compared to a number closer to $10 per hour in the US.

Teachers in Australia teach four 10 week terms. Overall, that is just a bit longer than our 180 day schedule. We discussed additional holiday time that is awarded to teachers after 10 years of service (an additional six weeks that may be taken during the school year.) It may also be used to extend the two week break in between terms. It is not frowned upon. I ran across several situations were teachers were on "holiday" even though the term had just resumed. I even had to change my original school visitation itinerary due to some scheduled teacher holidays. At the time I did not fully understand the concept. The teachers and students were just returning from a two week winter break between terms, but this "holiday" was being referred to in a nonchalant manner, as if they were out for a meeting. It is not customary or allowable for us to extend our breaks for additional holiday, so it did sound quite unusual to me. So not only do they pay their substitutes at a much higher rate, they also hire them to cover the holiday time of veteran teachers.