Scottish teachers now earn more than their English counterparts, yet politicians still attack the paybill as if a simple London comparison settles the argument. New international data shows the truth is far more nuanced, and Scotland’s higher salaries reflect real differences in geography, demographics and delivery costs that Westminster’s Barnett formula ignores.
Scotland’s teachers have become the best-paid in the UK, but cutting them back to English levels would ignore the extra challenges of teaching across one-third of Britain’s landmass.
Scotland Pulls Ahead of England
Teachers north of the border secured a cumulative 21 per cent rise between 2021 and 2024 through hard-won deals with the Scottish Government and Cosla.
Starting pay for a newly qualified teacher in Scotland now stands at £33,594 from August 2024, rising to £45,000 on the main scale. In England, outside London, the figure is £31,650. Even inner London only reaches £38,700.
The gap widens at the top end. A Scottish chartered teacher earns up to £56,430 from January 2025. The equivalent English upper pay scale maxes out at £47,666 outside London.
Education International’s latest global report confirms Scotland overtook England in actual salaries in 2022 and has stretched the lead since.
Where Scotland Sits Among OECD Nations
Strip away the UK headlines and the picture changes.
OECD Education at a Glance 2024, published September 2024, shows Scottish secondary teachers with 15 years’ experience earn $56,900 USD in purchasing power parity terms. That puts Scotland 16th out of 34 OECD countries with available data, just behind England on $57,400.
Primary teachers in Scotland earn $49,800 after 15 years, actually ahead of England’s $49,400.
The top payers remain Luxembourg ($124,000), Germany ($82,000) and Switzerland ($80,000). The OECD average for secondary teachers sits at $54,600.
In short, both Scotland and England pay teachers close to the developed-world average, not luxury wages.
The Extra Costs Scotland Cannot Escape
Rural and island teachers face living costs 14-30 per cent higher than the UK average, according to Highland and Islands Enterprise figures that have barely moved in a decade.
Heating a home in Shetland costs twice as much as in Surrey. Ferry fares, freight charges and sparse housing push grocery bills and rent far above southern levels.
Scotland also has an older population profile than England, driving higher health and social care demands that squeeze the same block grant.
Then there is sheer distance. Scotland covers 32 per cent of Britain’s land but holds only 8 per cent of the population. Delivering the same teacher contact hours across islands and glens costs more per head than in dense English shires.
Pupils Per Teacher: The Workload Reality Check
Raw salary only tells half the story.
Divide total teacher pay spend by the number of pupils and Scotland actually spends slightly less per child than England at both primary and secondary levels, according to the same OECD data.
Scotland maintains lower pupil-teacher ratios: 13.3 pupils per teacher in primary (England 20.3) and 12.1 in secondary (England 16.4). Teachers north of the border therefore handle fewer children each day, reducing marking and preparation pressure.
When pay is adjusted for the number of pupils taught, Scottish teachers cost the taxpayer less per child than English teachers do.
The IPPR Scotland analysis concludes: “Scotland puts similar resource into teacher salaries as England when viewed through an international lens, but achieves it with smaller class sizes and higher unit costs that cannot be wished away.”
Fair Pay for a Tougher Job
Teachers in Oban, Orkney or the Outer Hebrides already drive hours between schools or pay premium rents just to live near their workplace. Asking them to accept southern English pay rates would empty rural classrooms overnight.
The evidence shows Scotland is not “overpaying” teachers by some reckless Celtic splurge. It is paying what is needed to staff schools across a huge, sparse, expensive territory while keeping class sizes smaller than south of the border.
Comparing Scottish teacher pay directly with England’s is, as the old saying goes, apples and oranges.
The real question for voters and politicians is simpler: do we want qualified teachers in every classroom from Lerwick to Langholm, or are we happy to let remote communities lose them to better-paid jobs elsewhere?
What do you think, fair reward for a hard job, or still too generous in tough times? Drop your view below.
