USA

GTSI STATISTICS

GLOBAL TEACHER STATUS

INDEX 2018
USA GTSI STATISTICS

AMERICANS THINK TEACHERS DESERVE $7,500 MORE THAN THEY ARE

CURRENTLY PAID, NEW GLOBAL SURVEY REVEALS

THE US PUBLIC
KEY FINDINGS – USA: The Varkey Foundation Global Teacher Status Index 2018 (GTSI 2018)
THINK THAT
TEACHERS ARE
UNDERPAID BY
> The US public think that teachers are underpaid
by $7,500. While wages for a starting secondary
$7,500 A YEAR. school teacher have remained largely stagnant in

100
the US since 2013, hovering at just over $44,000

Teacher Status Index (Index of 100)

per annum, five years ago people considered this
to be more than what they thought was a fair
wage ($41,000). Today, they consider it to be

80
markedly below a fair wage, which they now
place at around $51,500. This is just above the

60
minimum salary US respondents said they would
consider to become a teacher ($51,000), the
third highest of all the countries surveyed after

40
Germany and Switzerland (both over $62,000).
US teachers sampled think this is more than

20
$10,000 too low, however, arguing that a fair
wage would be $62,000.
0
> US teachers report they are working some of the
Brazil
Israel

Canada
Singapore
New Zealand
India
Turkey
Italy
Ghana
Argentina
Czech Republic
Hungary
Uganda
Spain
Colombia
Peru

Korea
Indonesia
Russia
Netherlands
Portugal
Chile
Germany
France
Egypt
Japan
Finland
United States
Panama
Switzerland
UK
Greece

Taiwan
Malaysia
China
longest hours of all the countries surveyed.
Teachers in America estimate their hours at 50
per week, the sixth highest polled after New
Zealand (52.12), Singapore (52.04), Chile (51.31),
the UK (50.97), Hungary (50.47). However, the 35 survey countries indexed on a relative scale 1-100

#TeacherStatus
Copyright © The Varkey Foundation, 2018
 Chile
Portugal
Singapore
France

USA GTSI STATISTICS

Turkey
Japan
UK
Korea
New Zealand
Spain
Netherlands
Taiwan
Canada
United States
Estimated
Question Teacher
- Estimated Teacher Wages,
Wages, Perceived Perceived
Fair Teacher Fair Teacher Wages and Actual
Teacher
Wages Wages
and Actual Teacher by
Wages by Country. ($USD, PPP ($USD,Germany
Country. PPP adjusted)
adjusted) Switzerland
public slightly underestimates the number of 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70
Egypt
hours American teachers work, putting the
Uganda
figure at 45.02 hours – almost an entire school Perceived Fair Wage
Ghana
day less. Actual Wage
Russia Estimated Actual Wage

> Half of US respondents (50%) believe teachers

Indonesia
Brazil
should be paid according to the results of their Italy
THE US RANKS 16TH
pupils, compared with 24% who are against the Peru
OUT OF 35 notion of performance related pay. This is close China
COUNTRIES IN THE to average for the survey, compared with 79% of India
GLOBAL TEACHER people in Egypt support performance related Panama
STATUS INDEX, JUST pay, more than in any other country surveyed,
Greece
Malaysia
BEHIND PANAMA and 21% in Finland, the lowest polled. Support Colombia
AND JUST AHEAD OF for performance related pay has fallen Czech
FINLAND. considerably in the US since 2013 when 80% Argentina
were in favour. Hungary
Finland
> Almost one in eight US respondents (78%) Israel
Chile
instinctively view teachers as influential, the
Portugal
fourth highest of all the countries surveyed after
Singapore
China (85%), Ghana (81%) and Indonesia (79%). A France
similar number of US respondents (78%) also Turkey
instinctively see teachers as inspiring. In general, Japan
when it came to positive implicit responses to UK
teacher competence measured by rapid Korea
reactions to word pairs describing teacher New Zealand
Spain
competence, the US (81.4%) was the fourth
Netherlands
ranked country out of 35 polled after Ghana
Taiwan
(86.4%), China (85.8%) and Singapore (81.6%). Canada
United States
Germany
Switzerland
0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000

Perceived Fair Wage

#TeacherStatus
Actual Wage
Estimated Actual Wage

Copyright © The Varkey Foundation, 2018

 USA GTSI STATISTICS

> When US respondents were asked to rank 14 Perceptions of Teacher working hours (Teacher vs Public
professions including doctors, nurses, librarians perceptions) by Country.
and social workers in order of respect (with 14
being the highest and 1 the lowest),
headteachers were ranked the 6th lowest of all
the countries surveyed, behind first placed
ALMOST ONE IN Malaysia but ahead of last placed Brazil.
EIGHT US
RESPONDENTS (78%) > Americans’ faith in their education system is
INSTINCTIVELY VIEW increasing. When asked to rate the quality of
their education system out of 10, US
TEACHERS AS
respondents said 6.7, a marked increase from
INFLUENTIAL, THE
2013 when they rated it 5.9. This places the US
FOURTH HIGHEST OF 11th of all the countries polled in 2018, just
ALL THE COUNTRIES ahead of the UK (6.5) but behind Canada (6.8).
SURVEYED AFTER By contrast, Finland topped the rankings when it
CHINA (85%), GHANA came to rating their education system (8.06)
(81%) AND while Egypt came last 3.8.
INDONESIA (79%).
> The US ranks 16 in the GTSI out of 35 countries,
just behind Panama and just ahead of Finland.
Teacher status has stayed the same in the US
relative to other countries polled since the
survey was last conducted in 2013. In 2013 it
ranked at number 9 out of 21 countries surveyed
then, and of those 21 countries it continues to
rank at number 9 now.

#TeacherStatus
Copyright © The Varkey Foundation, 2018
 USA GTSI STATISTICS

> Teachers in the US think the status of their Responses to ‘Should teachers be rewarded in pay according to their
profession is lower than the American public do. pupils’ results?’ by Country. (As percentages of respondents) For the
When only polling teachers, the US status score general public sample
falls from 48.7 out of 100 to 37.1 out of 100, a
difference of -11.5. This makes the US one of only
13 countries in which teachers saw their status

100
100
Strongly disagree

OVER FOUR IN 10 as being lower than the general public do, and Tend to disagree

(42%) AMERICANS the second biggest underestimation of status by Neither agree nor disagree

WOULD ENCOURAGE teachers of all the countries surveyed after Tend to agree
Strongly agree
THEIR CHILD TO Portugal (-16.49).

80
80
BECOME A TEACHER,
THE FIFTH HIGHEST
> When asked to rank 14 professions including
doctors, nurses, librarians and social workers in
OF ALL THE

% of respondent
order of respect, on average US respondents

60
60
COUNTRIES ranked secondary school teachers the 12th
SURVEYED lowest of all the countries surveyed. The highest
ranking for secondary school teachers of all the
countries polled this year was China.

40
40
> Over four in 10 (42%) Americans would
encourage their child to become a teacher, the
fifth highest of all the countries surveyed after Strongly disagree

20
20
India (54%), China (50%), Ghana (50%) and Tend to disagree
Malaysia (49%). This is a marked increase from Neither agree nor disagree
Tend to agree
2013 when only a third (33%) of US respondents
Strongly agree
would encourage their child to become a
teacher. By sharp contrast, the country in which
0

NewZealand
CzechRepublic

UnitedStates
Netherlands

Indonesia
Finland
Japan
Taiwan
Netherlands
Switzerland
Germany
Korea
Republic
France
Canada
UK
Greece
Singapore
Zealand
Portugal
Brazil
Israel
States
Spain
Germany

Italy
Malaysia
Ghana
Argentina
China

Chile

Peru
Egypt
Turkey
Russia
India
Hungary
Colombia
Panama
Indonesia
Uganda
Panama
Ghana
Singapore

India
Japan

France

Greece

Peru
Finland

UK

Turkey

Egypt
Spain
Korea

Canada

Uganda
Portugal

Italy

Argentina
China
Russia

Colombia
Israel
Switzerland

Chile
Hungary
Malaysia
Taiwan

Brazil
the lowest proportion of respondents would
encourage their child to become a teacher was

United
Russia (6.1%).

New
Czech

#TeacherStatus
Copyright © The Varkey Foundation, 2018
USA GTSI STATISTICS

> Over a third of US respondents (37%) said the Responses to ‘Should teachers be rewarded in pay according Strongly disagree
Tend to disagree
most comparable profession to teachers are to their pupils’ results?’ by Country. (As percentages of Neither agree or disagree
librarians, followed by 23% who said social respondents) 2013 Tend to agree
Strongly agree
workers and 10% who said nurses. The US is one
of 10 countries that chose librarians as the most
similar profession, compared with 18 that said 100%

US TEACHERS social workers. By comparison, only three

REPORT THEY ARE countries – China, Russia and Malaysia – said
WORKING SOME OF teachers were most like doctors. The US view on
THE LONGEST which profession is most comparable to
teachers has not changed since 2013.
HOURS OF ALL THE 75%

COUNTRIES
SURVEYED.
> Over four in ten (44%) US people think pupils
respect their teachers. This is the 11th highest of
TEACHERS IN all the countries surveyed, but some way behind
AMERICA ESTIMATE first-placed China where 81% of respondents
THEIR HOURS AT believe pupils respect their teachers. A higher 50%
50 PER WEEK proportion of US people think pupils respect
their teachers in 2018 than in 2013 (37%).

25%

0%
Spain Netherlands Germany South Korea Singapore UK Portugal Czech Rep New Zealand Brazil Egypt

#TeacherStatus
Copyright © The Varkey Foundation, 2018
 USA GTSI STATISTICS

Influential v Not influential Association Word Association with Teacher

and Response Times.

OVER A THIRD OF US
RESPONDENTS (37%)
SAID THE MOST
COMPARABLE
PROFESSION TO
TEACHERS ARE
LIBRARIANS,
FOLLOWED BY 23%
WHO SAID SOCIAL
WORKERS AND 10%
WHO SAID NURSES

Influential
Not Influential
Implicit
Response
Time (ms)

#TeacherStatus
Copyright © The Varkey Foundation, 2018