It's back-to-school time again, and teachers, along with their unions, are bringing years of stagnant salaries and ongoing staff shortages back to the forefront of the debate. But which countries pay teachers the best?
The salaries of educational staff, especially teachers and school principals, constitute the largest expenditure in formal education, euronews reports.
However, in most European countries, teachers are often considered underpaid in relation to their level of education.
According to some studies, teachers' starting salaries are about 40 percent lower than the income of other highly educated professionals.
Although this gap narrows as salaries increase over the career, a large geographical difference remains visible in Europe.
In the 2024/2025 school year, Luxembourg was the EU country that paid teachers the highest salaries at most levels of education, both at the beginning and at the peak of their careers.
These data are published by Eurydice, the European education information network, funded by the European Commission.
Luxembourg was the clear leader in terms of teacher salaries. At the beginning of their careers, they were paid between 55,000 and 62,000 euros per year, while at the peak of their careers, salaries reached between 97,000 and 109,000 euros.
After Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Germany ranked among the countries with the highest salaries, depending on the level of education and stage.
of teachers' careers.
At the other end of the ranking were Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary, where teachers had the lowest salaries at the end of their careers.
In Slovakia, annual salaries ranged from 18,000 to 22,000 euros, depending on the level of education. In Hungary and the Czech Republic, they reached
up to 27 thousand euros.
In terms of starting salaries, Greece and Slovakia ranked at the bottom of the list, with annual salaries not exceeding
17 thousand euros.
How many years does it take for teachers to reach the peak of their careers?
Career advancement is often related to teachers' roles and responsibilities, years of experience, age, level of qualification, and their performance.
According to Eurydice, in 11 European Union countries, teachers need between 31 and 40 years to reach the highest level of their career, depending on the level of education at which they teach.
Only in Denmark and Finland can teachers reach the peak of their careers within 10 years, also depending on the level
of education where they work.
As teachers advance in their careers, their salaries also increase. This is considered an important factor in making the profession
more attractive and to retain professionals in the education system.
It's not just teachers who benefit. According to a 2025 OECD study, higher salaries for teachers tend to have a positive impact on student outcomes as well.
Eurydice data shows that Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands and Slovenia are the EU countries where teachers benefit from the largest salary increases, from the beginning to the peak of their careers.
The debate over teachers' salaries and career progression has also returned in France. The Ministry of Education recently stated that a public education teacher in France received an average of 3,090 euros net per month in 2024.
However, this figure represents the average of teachers with different professional statuses, including school teachers, certified teachers, associate professors, and professors with higher degrees.
Furthermore, this average does not include contract teachers, who make up about 8 percent of the teaching staff and are also the group with the lowest salaries.
Meanwhile, French teachers are among the five EU countries where salaries have failed to keep pace with growth.
of the cost of living. According to Eurydice, their salaries fell by 0.61 percent between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 school years.
In the EU, only Romania (-6.34%), Slovakia (-4.07%), Italy (-1.60%) and the French Community of Belgium (-0.71%) recorded a greater decline in teachers' salaries than France. /Telegraph/
