Research from Stellenbosch University’s Research on Socioeconomic Policy Unit (RESEP) shows that the average teacher in South Africa earned in the top 5% of South Africans in 2019.
Low income and poor working conditions are one of the main reasons why many teachers are driven out of the field and it’s also why young people are discouraged from pursing teaching as a career.
According to Paul Esterhuizen, CEO of School-Days, government has to find ways to make teaching more attractive for young people, accompanied with salaries that match the cost of living.
He noted that part of the reason why matric learners receive poor results is that higher performing students are not being attracted to the teaching profession.
Studies have suggested that an education degree has one of the lowest entrance requirements for higher learning admission, which ultimately impacts who chooses this career path, says Esterhuizen.
He adds, "If getting in to study teaching does not have a high benchmark, or it is the lowest benchmark in post high school learning, then surely we may be attracting the wrong people to become teachers."
Numerous suggestions as to how government can promote teaching as a profession have been floated. One suggestion that has been put forward, is having teachers' salaries based on the performance of their learners.
If South Africa is to improve its educational outcomes – including in maths and science - it needs to remunerate high-performing teachers above the industry average, including offering more attractive benefits, to act as a retention tool.
Esterhuizen says that government should be finding ways to incentivise high performing students to choose teaching as a career path, adding that it will likely have long-term benefits for schools and education in the future.
Meanwhile, many have raised concerns saying there are issues with this method, which has already been practiced in parts of the world before.
Dr Sara Black, lecturer at the School of Education at King's College in London explains that the conditions in many schools are so dire that many newly qualified teachers choose to leave the profession within three to five years.
She says that anything that will further impact their salaries would likely continue to push them out of the field. She adds, “All it does, is it holds teachers with a financial axe over their necks for things that are very difficult for them to control.”
Black noted that if teachers feel they are being financially punished for their learners not obtaining certain results, they will rather pursue other work opportunities if they are able to.
