Full time play group teacher salary

[red1030]

Ive got a master of teaching and 2 years teaching experience. What salary should i be expecting for full time playgroup teacher position? 5days a week 9am-6pm including saturdays. Ive been offered 20k a month. Somehow this sounds low to me. What do you guys think?

[jmbf]

Yeah it's on the low side but then again there's so much variation within the industry it's hard to quote a 'standard' salary package. With your qualifications and experience I would say 25K or a bit more would be achievable.

[Fiona in HKG]

It sounds like they are paying for the position and not your qualification. Most of the playgroup teachers I know aren't as qualified as you are and some don't even have that much experience.

[Flat Hunter]

Good luck getting a salary based on qualifications and experience. If you don't take the offered salary there will be someone behind you in the queue that will.

[Creative83]

No big deal having a lower than expected salary for little value added activity.

[jmbf]

Good luck getting a salary based on qualifications and experience. If you don't take the offered salary there will be someone behind you in the queue that will.

The flip side of that coin is that there will always be another school / centre who is willing to pay a bit more for a good teacher who can bring value and therefore extra revenue to the business.

Never under sell yourself. If you are good at what you do then stand up for yourself. Hell, if I let my students parents dictate my hourly rates I'd still be slogging away at $250-$300 per hour!

[red1030]

#Update

I replied them asking for 25k and they accepted it on the condition that i work for 3 months probation for 20k(i even jad to neogtaite for thi, they started offering 18.5k). I feel like the huge gap between these 2 amounts is very strange...seeing as they seem in a huge rush to get someone (they kept asking if I could start work in the next 2 days), I have a feeling they dont intend to keep me past probabtion...and "accepting" my request just to get me to work straight away...any thoughts?

[jmbf]

What kind of visa are you on?

[red1030]

I dont need one. Ive got a hkid.

[jmbf]

Having a HKID doesn't necessarily give you the right to work freely. They can be linked to student visas for example. What I guess you mean is that you have Permanent Residency / Right to Land / Right of Abode etc etc which would allow you to work without restriction.

Ok, in that case you would be free to start working immediately if you wanted. If I were you I would try to quickly do more research about the centre / school and see what other teachers have said about it. Combine this with your own gut feeling and then make your decision. Certainly some language centres can be quite ruthless about these things.

You have to evaluate what's the worst case scenario. Say you accept their offer and really do get let go at the end of 3 months. That's 3 months of income at 20K vs turning down their offer and potentially taking longer to secure another position at possibly a higher salary level. How long have you been looking for work? Have you had interviews with other companies? All these factors should be considered.