03-13-2003, 04:57 AM
Teachers here are paid based on levels of experience and it ranges in NZ$ between 40,000 to 60,000 IIRC. Converting that to USD that is approx. 16,000-24,000 USD... And you are talking about 30,000 being a low starting salary?!
I investigated becoming a teacher in this country, but as an entry level I.T. worker I'm already near the middle of the pay scale with much more room to improve. The problem is that (public) teachers get paid the same everywhere, so teachers with skills that have shortages cannot get any more (Adam Smith anyone?)... we are short of Math/Tech/Economics teachers, all of which I have, but there's nothing in it for me, especially when my I.T. contract explicitly limits the number of hours I am required to work.
I think Canada/U.S. are in a very good position education-wise, like Pete I would prefer to see some numbers rather than the anecdotes floating around. U.S. and Canada both have a larger proportion of graduates in 'value creation' areas of technology/science/engineering (c.f. N.Z. where we have about a third(?) of graduates in accounting and law...for this alone I would halve the number of graduates listed above for NZ)
I can't comment on comparable quality, as I don't know the standards of international institutions. I do however tend to think that (recognised) university level courses would be at fairly similar levels due to universities having large numbers of lecturers of international origin, but as for an actual comparison, how could you measure?
I investigated becoming a teacher in this country, but as an entry level I.T. worker I'm already near the middle of the pay scale with much more room to improve. The problem is that (public) teachers get paid the same everywhere, so teachers with skills that have shortages cannot get any more (Adam Smith anyone?)... we are short of Math/Tech/Economics teachers, all of which I have, but there's nothing in it for me, especially when my I.T. contract explicitly limits the number of hours I am required to work.
I think Canada/U.S. are in a very good position education-wise, like Pete I would prefer to see some numbers rather than the anecdotes floating around. U.S. and Canada both have a larger proportion of graduates in 'value creation' areas of technology/science/engineering (c.f. N.Z. where we have about a third(?) of graduates in accounting and law...for this alone I would halve the number of graduates listed above for NZ)
I can't comment on comparable quality, as I don't know the standards of international institutions. I do however tend to think that (recognised) university level courses would be at fairly similar levels due to universities having large numbers of lecturers of international origin, but as for an actual comparison, how could you measure?