Irish secondary teachers seventh in league of best-paid

Teachers' salaries: Irish secondary-school teachers were the seventh best-paid when the average salaries in 28 OECD countries in 2001 were analysed in the Education at a Glance report.

The average salary for a teacher in the junior secondary school cycle, with 15 years' experience, was the equivalent of $37,234 - $5,266 more than the OECD average.

Swiss teachers received the top salary of $54,852, followed by Germany and Japan, while the lowest salary of $6,604 was paid to teachers in the Slovak Republic.

Similarly, Irish primary-school teachers with 15 years' experience were the seventh best-paid ($36,837) - while teachers in the senior secondary school cycle were the 11th best-paid - out of 28 countries.

However, the ratio of the average salary of teachers to per capita GDP was lower than the OECD average.

The report also found that young Irish adults were more likely to get a college education than their counterparts in any other OECD country, except Canada.

In 2001, just under half of all Irish 25-34 year-olds had graduated from some form of third-level education, compared with less than one third of young adults in the UK and more than one third in the United States. One in two 25-34 year-old Canadians had attained some form of third-level education in 2001.

However, the study also found that Irish schools were lagging behind many other countries in their use of information technology.

Teachers in the senior cycle of secondary school came bottom of a table of 15 countries when their principals were asked if they used computer applications at least once a month. Only 26 per cent of principals said their teachers did.

The comparable Swedish figure was 68 per cent.

The OECD average was 47 per cent.

Irish principals reported that only 24 per cent of their teachers used the Internet, compared with 77 per cent of Korean teachers. In Korea, all senior-cycle secondary school teachers have a computer. In Ireland, there is one computer for every nine teachers.

Irish students shared bottom place with French students when it came to writing computer programs.

Just 13 per cent said they had done this at least once a month, while the OECD average was 27 per cent. Similarly, only 49 per cent of these students regularly used educational software, compared with an OECD average of 67 per cent.

The OECD report warned that teacher shortages were likely to become a major factor in the future, as student numbers increased while the age profile of teachers continued to rise.

In Ireland, the average proportion of teachers aged 50 years or over increased by six percentage points since 1998, while the proportion of teachers under 30 fell by more than four percentage points.

This increase in the number of teachers over 50 was only exceeded by the UK and Germany.