Have a read of the below article:
Figures reveal pay inequality for teachers
New figures show that male primary school teachers earn on average €8,000 more than their female counterparts and are far more likely to become school principals.
The data was supplied to the primary teachers’ union, the INTO, by the Department of Education.
15% of primary school teachers are male – a figure that is widely acknowledged as too low.
However, male teachers are far more likely to hold senior posts than their female counterparts and they will earn a lot more.
A man has a greater than one-in-four chance of being a principal, while a woman has a one-in-13 chance.
According to the data, the average male teacher earns €64,000 per annum, while the average female earns €56,000.
The INTO took an historic step yesterday electing its first female general secretary.
It’s beautiful isn’t it? A perfect example of journalism at its best, factually correct yet completely wrong.
And what’s worse is that the figures were produced the Department of Education, the people responsible for ensuring that the children of Ireland have a good understanding of mathematics and statistics…
So what’s wrong with it?
Nothing and everything, men are quite likely to be earning more and have a better chance of becoming school principal, it’s an undeniable fact. It’s all true.
But how can 15% of the primary school teaching population have so much power and wealth? Why are men favoured?
They’re not. Instead male teachers are a dying species, every year there’s less and less of them. The vast majority of them have been there since the good old days when there were more male teachers than female teachers and so they’re older, and because they’re older, they earn more money and they are more likely to be school principals.
Of course my explanation isn’t fun and certainly doesn’t sell newpapers but you’d think they’d have used their brains a little before publishing it!
