Teaching Salary in South Africa

The teaching salary in South Africa was taken recently by The Department of Basic Education in South Africa. They revised the data that it publishes on how much money teachers in that country make.

The country’s teachers get remuneration that is determined by “notches” according to their post level, with an entry and maximum notch that reflect salary increases for the public sector in 2021.

According to what the department had to say about the matter, “this is a pensionable basic pay notch omitting the benefits and the additional R1,000 non-pensionable across-the-board allowance which was part of the salary agreement.”

R214,908 is the annual entrance notch for an educator that meets the minimum qualification, which is now a Relative Equivalent Qualification Value (REQV) of 13, which is equivalent to a Matric plus three years of study. In comparison, the minimum admission requirement for an educator with REQV 14 is R284,238 (which requires a matriculation certificate in addition to four years of study).

According to the department, the majority of new entrants to the system have a qualification of at least four years or enter at the minimal level of REQV14.

This number continuously climbs upward with age and years of experience, with school principals earning well over R1 million at the high end of the pay scale.

In South Africa, one type of the teaching workforce is referred to as a recently qualified teacher. Those educators who have obtained Qualified Teacher Status but have not yet finished the mandatory one-year induction program for newly qualified teachers are considered to be newly qualified teachers. This program is known as the “induction for newly qualified teachers.”

The average monthly salary for a Newly Qualified Teacher in South Africa is close to 33,000 South African Rand. The lowest average pay is 15,800 ZAR, while the greatest possible compensation is 60,200 ZAR (highest average, the actual maximum salary is higher).

The amount of money that a teacher makes in South Africa can vary widely based on where in the country they work, how much experience and education they have, as well as whether or not the school is publicly or privately run.

The age distribution of the labor force in the country also has a significant impact on the national average salary for teachers. In 2019, the median age of South Africa’s teaching staff was 46 years old. In the next decade, it is anticipated that a substantial cohort of older teachers would retire, and that they will be succeeded in the classroom by a cohort of younger instructors.

Teaching Salary in South Africa: Grade R Teachers

The teaching salary in South Africa for a Grade R teacher is R7,411 monthly and R89,212 yearly. Its interesting to note that this type of teacher is among the lowest paid of all teachers in South Africa.

Teaching Salary in South Africa: Preschool Teachers

The teaching salary in South Africa for a Preschool Teacher is R6698 monthly and R80,383 yearly.

Teaching Salary in South Africa: Private School Teachers

The teaching salary in South Africa for a Private School Teacher is R26,463 monthly and R317,588 yearly.

Teaching Salary in South Africa: Correctional Teachers

The teaching salary in South Africa for a Correctional Teacher is R16,430 monthly and R197,170 yearly.

What does a South African Teacher Do?

Educates pupils in secondary schools, either publicly or privately run, in one or more subject areas.

Instructs students through a variety of approaches, including lecture and demonstration, and makes use of multimedia aids and other materials to enhance lectures.

Creates course objectives and curriculum outlines for a course of study, taking into account any standards or regulations for the curriculum provided by the state or the school.

Lessons are given, and the homework is checked and corrected.

South Africa Needs Teachers!

According to Mancosa, a private higher education institution, South Africa does not graduate a sufficient number of teachers to match the supply and demand, and a base of retiring instructors is beginning to adversely affect the pupil to teacher ratios in the country’s classrooms.

“The teaching profession is losing members at a faster rate than it is gaining new ones. At the moment, the basic teacher institutions around the country produce approximately 15,000 new teachers every single year. According to Professor Magnate Ntombela, the principal of Mancosa, “This falls short of the 25,000-mark that is required to sustain a good teacher-pupil ratio.”

According to what he had stated, “there is an urgent need to locate 20,000 newly-qualified teachers each year in order to sustain present teacher-pupil ratios.”

The Department of National Treasury has issued a warning in the past that the low pay rise of 0.8% during the time of the medium-term spending framework period, along with early retirements, will diminish the number of available teachers in the country.

It was stated that this, in conjunction with an increase in the number of students, implies higher class sizes, particularly in schools that do not charge tuition, which is anticipated to negatively affect the outcomes of students’ education.

According to the findings of a report compiled by Amnesty International, the government has made an effort to solve the issue by relaxing some of the selection criteria.

“However, the system continues to produce an insufficient number of teachers, particularly in fields where there is a greater demand for them, such as teaching reading to students in the earlier grades.

“The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has calculated that colleges need to produce 4,300 African mother-tongue-speaking foundation-phase teachers every year merely to replace those leaving the profession. This number is just to replace those who are departing the profession.” Only 1,219 of these teachers were able to graduate in 2012, according to the organization.

It is anticipated that there are 26,000 schools, 400,000 professors, and close to 13 million students attending classes across South Africa’s educational institutions as of October 2021.