The reason teachers earn less

John Roughan’s opinion piece makes a misleading claim, reminiscent of the 1990s promotion of the view that free markets in education could easily supply high standards in all locations. Teacher salary issues long pre-date the welfare state. The problem lies with universality.

History tells us that even in the 19th century, when NZ teachers were overwhelmingly male, pay rates at primary level were really poor, in a settler society that valued practical, manual skills. But up to the 1930s, secondary teaching was a highly-paid and prestigious profession — because limited schooling opportunities at this level meant education was the gatekeeper to elite occupations.

The democratic drive to widen education opportunity, which eventually made high school compulsory from 1944, also had the effect of reducing teacher pay and status.

While analogies are possible between private schooling and the ways in which higher paying professions organise themselves, public schools serve the same national purpose as public hospitals, so face similar funding and staffing pressures. Ann Dunphy, Parnell.