Republic of Ireland

Main article: Education in the Republic of Ireland

Salaries for primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland depend mainly on seniority (i.e. holding the position of principal, deputy principal or assistant principal), experience and qualifications. Extra pay is also given for teaching through the Irish language, in a Gaeltacht area or on an island. The basic pay for a starting teacher is €27,814 p.a., rising incrementally to €53,423 for a teacher with 25 years service. A principal of a large school with many years experience and several qualifications (M.A., H.Dip., etc.) could earn over €90,000.^[20]

Teachers are required to be registered with the Teaching Council

; under Section 30 of the Teaching Council Act 2001, a person employed in any capacity in a recognised teaching post - who is not registered with the Teaching Council - may not be paid from Oireachtas funds.^[21][22]

From 2006 Garda vetting has been introduced for new entrants to the teaching profession. These procedures apply to teaching and also to non-teaching posts and those who refuse vetting "cannot be appointed or engaged by the school in any capacity including in a voluntary role". Existing staff will be vetted on a phased basis.^[23][24]

Scotland

Main article: Education in Scotland

In Scotland, anyone wishing to teach must be registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS). Teaching in Scotland is an all graduate profession and the normal route for graduates wishing to teach is to complete a programme of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) at one of the seven Scottish Universities who offer these courses. Once successfully completed, "Provisional Registration" is given by the GTCS which is raised to "Full Registration" status after a year if there is sufficient evidence to show that the "Standard for Full Registration" has been met.^[25]

For the salary year beginning April 2008, unpromoted teachers in Scotland earned from £20,427 for a Probationer, up to £32,583 after 6 years teaching, but could then go on to earn up to £39,942 as they complete the modules to earn Chartered Teacher Status (requiring at least 6 years at up to two modules per year.) Promotion to Principal Teacher positions attracts a salary of between £34,566 and £44,616; Deputy Head, and Head teachers earn from £40,290 to £78,642.^[26] Teachers in Scotland can be registered members of trade unions such as ATL.

United States

Main article: Education in the United States

Further information: Paraprofessional educator

In the United States, each state determines the requirements for getting a license to teach in public schools. Teaching certification generally lasts three years, but teachers can receive certificates that last as long as ten years.^[27] Public school teachers are required to have a bachelor's degree and the majority must be certified by the state in which they teach. Many charter schools do not require that their teachers be certified, provided they meet the standards to be highly qualified as set by No Child Left Behind. Additionally, the requirements for substitute/temporary teachers are generally not as rigorous as those for full-time professionals. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that there are 1.4 million elementary school teachers,^[28] 674,000 middle school teachers,^[29] and 1 million secondary schoolteachers employed in the U.S.^[30]

In the past, teachers have been paid relatively low salaries. However, average teacher salaries have improved rapidly in recent years. US teachers are generally paid on graduated scales, with income depending on experience. Teachers with more experience and higher education earn more than those with a standard bachelor's degree and certificate. Salaries vary greatly depending on state, relative cost of living, and grade taught. Salaries also vary within states where wealthy suburban school districts generally have higher salary schedules than other districts. The median salary for all primary and secondary teachers was $46,000 in 2004, with the average entry salary for a teacher with a bachelor's degree being an estimated $32,000. Median salaries for preschool teachers, however, were less than half the national median for secondary teachers, clock in at an estimated $21,000 in 2004.^[31] For high school teachers, median salaries in 2007 ranged from $35,000 in South Dakota to $71,000 in New York, with a national median of $52,000.^[32] Some contracts may include long-term disability insurance, life insurance, emergency/personal leave and investment options.^[33] The American Federation of Teachers' teacher salary survey for the 2006-07 school year found that the average teacher salary was $51,009.^[34] In a salary survey report for K-12 teachers, elementary school teachers had the lowest median salary earning $39,259. High school teachers had the highest median salary earning $41,855.^[35] Many teachers take advantage of the opportunity to increase their income by supervising after-school programs and other extracurricular activities. In addition to monetary compensation, public school teachers may also enjoy greater benefits (like health insurance) compared to other occupations. Merit pay systems are on the rise for teachers, paying teachers extra money based on excellent classroom evaluations, high test scores and for high success at their overall school. Also, with the advent of the internet, many teachers are now selling their lesson plans to other teachers through the web in order to earn supplemental income, most notably on TeachersPayTeachers.com.^[36]

Wales

Main article: Education in Wales

Education in Wales differs in certain respects from education elsewhere in the United Kingdom. For example, a significant number of students all over Wales are educated either wholly or largely through the medium of Welsh: in 2008/09, 22 per cent of classes in maintained primary schools used Welsh as the sole or main medium of instruction. Welsh medium education is available to all age groups through nurseries, schools, colleges and universities and in adult education; lessons in the language itself are compulsory for all pupils until the age of 16.

Teachers in Wales can be registered members of trade unions such as ATL, NUT or NASUWT and reports in recent years suggest that the average age of teachers in Wales is falling with teachers being younger than in previous years.^[37] A growing cause of concern are that attacks on teachers in Welsh schools which reached an all-time high between 2005 and 2010.^[38]

Spiritual teacher

Main article: Spiritual teacher

There are many forms of spiritual or religious teachers in Christianity, across all three major traditions - (Roman) Catholic, (Eastern) Orthodox Catholic, and Protestant/Non-Denominational, with a stronger tradition of spiritual formation in the more historic and authoritarian/hierarchical Christian traditions with a long tradition of "discernment of spirits", of vocations, and other aspects of spiritual life, especially the Roman and Orthodox Catholic Churches. These positions include: the honoured but informal position of starets or elder - a man (or, less often, woman), often a monastic, considered to be graced by God with certain gifts for the guidance of souls and the detection and correction of prelest (spiritual pride or deception) - who acts as a spiritual guide or father in the Orthodox Catholic tradition, especially Russian Orthodoxy (see Optina Monastery, which had a long line of said starets); the Priest or Confessor in Roman Catholicism, who is often a man in Holy Orders but may be a monastic or other person respected for his spiritual accomplishments or acumen (even the Pope of Rome has a Confessor, who is not always a bishop, and, due to the hierarchical structure of the Roman Church, can not be his equal in authority), which is often a semi-official to official position, as opposed to the unofficial positions of spiritual guides in the Orthodox Catholic and Protestant traditions; and the almost-exclusively informal arrangements (generally formal only in members who are under some form of church discipline) of mentorship (both of adults and children, in the latter case often a youth pastor) in the Protestant and Non-Denominational traditions, which boundaries can be blurred with the more typically Roman "confessor" position in some of the more historic and conservative Reformation Churches, such as some of the Lutheran andAnglican. In keeping with the individualistic nature of most Protestant denominations, the emphasis on being guided in spiritual development is small, with a heavy emphasis placed on heavy reading and personal, Spirit-enlightened interpretation of the Holy Bible.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (colloquially known as "Mormonism"), the teacher is an office in the Aaronic priesthood, generally conferred on young boys or recent converts, and has little in common with the "spiritual teacher" archetype. The role of "spiritual teacher" may be filled by many individuals in the Mormon Church, often a trusted friend, who may hold any office, from Elder to Bishop, or no office at all. The emphasis on spiritual mentorship in the Mormon Church is similar to that in the more "low-church" traditions of Protestantism, with a stronger emphasis placed on the husband and father of a family to provide spiritual guidance for all of his family, ideally in consultation with his wife, even if the husband is not a member of the LDS Church, based on interpretatios of certain Biblical texts which proclaim the spiritual authority of husbands in marriage. Even Priesthood representatives are expected to defer to the father of the house when in his home. Further, additional spiritual guidance is offered by those holding the office of Patriarch (LDS Church), which is supposed by Latter-day Saints to grant certain gifts of the Spirit, such as the ability to prophesy, to its holders. This guidance is generally offered during a ceremony called the patriarchal blessing.

In Hinduism the spiritual teacher is known as a guru, and, in many traditions of Hinduism - especially those common in the West - the emphasis on spiritual mentorship is extremely high, with gurus often exercising a great deal of control over the lives of their disciples.

In Tibetan Buddhism the teachers of Dharma in Tibet are most commonly called a Lama. A Lama who has through phowa and siddhi consciously determined to be reborn, often many times, in order to continue their Bodhisattva vow is called a Tulku.

There are many concepts of teachers in Islam, ranging from mullahs (the teachers at madrassas) to ulemas, who teach of the laws of Islam for the proper way of Islamic living according to the Sunnah and Ahadith, and can render legal verdicts upon matters of Islamic law in accordance with the teaching of one of the Four Schools of Jurisprudence. In the more spiritual or mystical Islamic tradition of Sufism, the position of spiritual teacher and an esoteric (as opposed to exoteric, or actions-oriented, e.g. the Five Pillars of Islam) spirituality and spiritual knowledge takes on a more important dimension, with emphasis on learning from living saints - the highest of which is a Qutb - and of traditions passed down from initiate to initiate, and traceable back to the founder of the order.

A Rabbi is generally regarded as the Jewish spiritual teacher, and has many other responsibilities.

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