Starting to panic about Teacher's pay !!!

[greenchilli]

Hi all,
I have have just received my Subject to Confirmation teaching registration so I am good to go when we arrive in Feb, however I am starting to panic about supporting the family (2 boys). OH is already working in Auckland but not on a fantastic salary. I have looked at the collective agreement but can't seem to make any sense of that! I am about to progress onto UPS 2 in the UK so am fairly high up the payscale for a standard primary teacher. What is worrying me is the girl from the agency said I would be on $42,000 with my experience and now I'm thinking OMG we can't afford it and hubby is already there I've sold half my furniture and just about to put my ITA in. Stress !!! I know salaries are not the same but am having serious second thoughts as can't making the move if we can afford to rent and eat and nothing else. Don't want reality to end our Nz dream but can't see how we can survive on roughly $90,000. Would appreciate your thoughts views and experiences and this post is not about being materialistic that is what we are trying to escape from but don't want to get into financial difficulties over there !
Sorry I have ranted on- got time to panic as it's the weekend !
Cheers

[lockstock]

Sorry but don't expect a teacher's salary to be anything like $90K. Top of the basic scale for a secondary teacher is roughly $67k. Look up teacher's salaries on the PPTA or NZEI websites and use your NZQA assessment level as a guide. It's very complicated when you first look but read the key and it should give you an idea.

[IanW99]

Well if it helps, if you earn NZ$42000 then your take home pay should be NZ$33270 and if your OH earns NZ$48000 then their take home would be NZ$37290 so this would give you a total income of NZ$70560 or NZ$1357 per week after tax (doesn't include any kiwi saver deductions).

So you should be able to use a cost of living calculator to work out whether this is enough for you.

Ian

[napiers]

Hi all,
I have have just received my Subject to Confirmation teaching registration so I am good to go when we arrive in Feb, however I am starting to panic about supporting the family (2 boys). OH is already working in Auckland but not on a fantastic salary. I have looked at the collective agreement but can't seem to make any sense of that! I am about to progress onto UPS 2 in the UK so am fairly high up the payscale for a standard primary teacher. What is worrying me is the girl from the agency said I would be on $42,000 with my experience and now I'm thinking OMG we can't afford it and hubby is already there I've sold half my furniture and just about to put my ITA in. Stress !!! I know salaries are not the same but am having serious second thoughts as can't making the move if we can afford to rent and eat and nothing else. Don't want reality to end our Nz dream but can't see how we can survive on roughly $90,000. Would appreciate your thoughts views and experiences and this post is not about being materialistic that is what we are trying to escape from but don't want to get into financial difficulties over there !
Sorry I have ranted on- got time to panic as it's the weekend !
Cheers

Hi greenchilli - I can't help at all but spookily enough I'm in practically the same situation as you. I'm STC on NZ register and am about to give my application/letter to progress to UPS2 to the head! (Hopefully it'll be fine and will be backdated to September!!) We won't be in Auckland until next August-ish time but it is going to happen. I haven't yet investigated salaries in any detail (I need to I think) but please keep this thread updated and if I come across any info then I'll let you know. Good luck.

[greenchilli]

Sorry I know I won't earn 90,000 I meant joint income as hubby is already working

[Spooky]

Yikes, now you got me panicking too. I was trying to make sense of the collective agreements, but they don't quite say how much you'll get for number of years experience, only for your level of qualification. I wonder if 55-60 is reasonable to expect for a secondary level teacher with 10 years in the classroom. . If not I'll have to make a big pot of curry and sell it during recess time!

[greenchilli]

Yes looks like it's going to be tight if I start at the bottom so hopefully will be assessed higher as I have 13 years experience, I know it will be worth it though just having a cold feet moment !

[thewoodies]

Sorry but don't expect a teacher's salary to be anything like $90K. Top of the basic scale for a secondary teacher is roughly $67k. Look up teacher's salaries on the PPTA or NZEI websites and use your NZQA assessment level as a guide. It's very complicated when you first look but read the key and it should give you an idea.

I am being really thick but i cant find actual salaries on either site?

[willsken]

Don't panic! You won't be on $42,000. I noticed someone has 10 years experience and if that's the case then I can't see any reason why you won't go straight to the top of the scale. I had 6 years experience and I did. It's about $65,000 ish a year. They matched my experience year for year on the pay scale.


Pay scales

http://img.scoop.co.nz/media/pdfs/0705/PPTAsalaries.pdf

I'm pretty sure if you are qualified you count your years experience starting at step 7.

[kanatakiwi]

I think many people on this forum would telll you they are managing all right on less than $90,000 a year. I know we are. It may take some adjustment on lifestyle choices, but the best things to do here are outdoors and free. I find food in supermarkets and eating out here atrociously expensive (coming from canada) but most people from UK think its quite reasonable, so you might find things are not so expensive here by comparison.