Should teachers in shortage subjects like maths and physics be paid more than other teachers?
UK schools face persistent shortages of specialist teachers in maths and physics, with only 55% of physics hours and around 80% of maths hours delivered by degree-qualified staff in recent years, hitting disadvantaged schools hardest. The government offers targeted bursaries up to £29,000 for trainees in these subjects and retention incentives up to £6,000 for early-career teachers, alongside a uniform 3.5% pay rise from September 2026 that applies to all teachers. Recent analysis shows retraining serving teachers is far cheaper than recruitment incentives for addressing specialist gaps.
50 Opinions
STEM is state-critical & needs much more than offering slightly higher salaries, but it's a start. There needs to be a holistic approach to the crisis in STEM - lack of jobs & investment, poor pay for many in work, start ups failing at higher rates than elsewhere. For teaching, would you rather your child was taught by a 20-something just out of uni, or a 40-50 year old who has lived & breathed it in industry? To attract them, salaries need to be much more attractive.
It’s a very simple matter of labour market economics. If there is a shortage you solve it by increasing the price. Paying a music teacher - who might otherwise be working at a café - the same as a Maths teacher who could otherwise quite easily walk into a relatively well paid job makes no sense. Maths and Science are also more important than other subjects, and particularly for maths there is a strong correlation between the teacher’s skill in the subject and learning
Why not save pernicious influence of the Teaching Unions? Very Communist pay should be equal. Good teachers in any subject should be rewarded & not automatically by age or length of service. Brilliant History teacher - pay him or her more. System won’t allow it as there are many useless teachers & ability, application to their subject & performance with verifiable outcomes is anathema to them & Union reps. Salutary most problems in modern World caused by Socialists…..
You want the right people to do whiny not chase the money teachers like nurses are a precious commodity
This would cause a shortage in other subjects as teachers change speciality. Pay all teachers more then, maybe, there wouldn't be a shortage.
Yes with a caveat, all teachers should be paid more. Its one of the most important jobs in society.
Maths and physics are too important to address teacher shortages through a bidding war between subjects. We should reconnect teaching with the excitement of discovery, create routes into the classroom for scientists and engineers, develop specialist career paths and free teachers to teach rather than administer. The goal should be to inspire more people to teach these subjects and equip them to succeed, without undermining equal professional respect.
In the real world demand and supply would take over.
Surely supply and demand rules? If a school is struggling to attract teachers of any particular subject, thet should offer a greater salary. Similarly, schools that always struggle to hire and retain staff should pay more.
So you increase pay for maths teachers, get an influx of maths teachers, so you don’t have a shortage any more, then what? Decrease pay again for new maths teachers? Forever pay maths teachers more but get a shortage of chemists cos they now all teach maths? Rigid pay bands/structures just don’t allow for this kind of targeting. Besides, it’s not pay putting people off teaching - it’s conditions (freedom of annual leave, wfh etc) and classroom behaviour