WOW … it’s
a long time since I’ve been here, but I’m back today.
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| BC classrooms now empty in dispute between BCTF and the BC government |
I
thought I would do a little exercise with regards to wages and salaries in BC, and
try putting teacher’s pay in perspective. I have had to do what I believe to be
a fairly accurate calculation on an hourly wage for teachers (as noted in my
calculations below), but any teachers / friends are welcome to correct me.
Let’s
start with Statistics Canada, which states the ‘average’ teacher’s salary in BC
is $64,131 per year.
I then
went to the BC Stats website to look at a long list of wages and salaries in BC http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/StatisticsBySubject/LabourIncome/Earnings/WageSalarySurvey/WageSalarySurveySearch.aspx). Here are a number of professional, career,
and industrial careers … and the hourly wage paid. The numbers quoted below are for the most frequently
page wage (not the lowest or highest).
Pease note I am not saying these jobs are equal to what a teacher does,
only that most have a combination that includes a combination (any or all) of
the following … training / education, responsibility for safety, professionalism,
and legal obligations.
Community
and Social Service Worker: $18.83
Post-Secondary
Teaching and Research Assistant: $22.08Automotive Service Technician / Truck and Bus Mechanics: $25.67
Welders and Related Machine Operators: $27.91
Electrician: $27.03
Financial Auditors and Accountants: $29.32
Heavy Duty Equipment Mechanic: $30.85
Computer Programmer and Information Systems Managers: $30.92
Insurance, Real Estate and Financial Brokerage ‘Managers’: $36.32
Registered Nurses: $36.59
Professional Occupations in Business Services to Management: $36.73
Business Development Officers: $37.91
Senior Managers (Goods Production, Utilities, Transportation, and Construction): $39.49
And
now … back to BC teachers:
52
weeks – 8 weeks off for Summer = 44 weeks
44
weeks – 3 (Christmas, Spring Break, Easter) = 41 weeks41 weeks multiplied by 5 work days per week = 205 days
205 days – 3 stats (BC Day, May Day, and Remembrance Day – others already in above days not worked) = 202
Again,
this is just a ballpark figure, so the figure of 202 days worked per year is my
calculation based on the above. Please
note it also does not include the non-instruction days off which used to be
called Professional Development days)
Let’s
say the teaching / classroom time per day is 6 hours; from there let’s add 45
minutes on the front end (at school) for prep, and 45 at the end (at school) to
wrap-up the day – we now have 7.5 hours per day. I’m just guessing, but for each day ‘worked’
I’m going to add another 1.5 hours at home for prep and marking; we now have 9
hours per day.
202
instructional days times 9 hours per day equals a total of 1818 hours worked.
The
average salary, paid to BC teachers, of $64,131 divided by 1818 equals $35.27
per hour … that seems not bad to me given the above noted salaries, and before
the current salary offer is added in to the equation.
Now
before anyone says I am teacher bashing, I am NOT. I am simply saying that the salary they
receive, is a good one. In other words,
the raise being offered by the BC Government is more than generous!
The government is NOT off the hook however; more money does need to go into classrooms so there can be better services delivered to students … especially those with special needs. That is NOT however something I believe is a part of contract negotiations, that is something that each of us as parents need to demand of government.
The government is NOT off the hook however; more money does need to go into classrooms so there can be better services delivered to students … especially those with special needs. That is NOT however something I believe is a part of contract negotiations, that is something that each of us as parents need to demand of government.
These
just my thoughts … what do you think?
