Hello. I am considering relocating to Spain to teach science. I have applied for jobs at British schools in Barcelona and Madrid. I have searched the Internet and I cannot find information on current teacher salaries. The only information or threads I can find indicate that the pay in British schools can be lower than Spanish schools and that teachers sometimes get second jobs to supplement their living. Is this true? In addition - what are the working hours for teachers if you include the time you put in for planning/ marking/ prep? I am currently doing 70 + hour weeks. I have heardthat some British schools have high turnovers so wonder if those teachers face similar pressures relating to workload. Any advice would be appreciated.

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Hi missmillie

I taught in spain for 8 ytears, in three different schools. Salaries and conditions vary enormously which is why you won't find any definitive info online but yes, in general, they are not as good as for those teachers in state schools who have passed opposiciones.

My teaching load was heavy ish (the maximum allowed under spanish law), but I didn't find I had to dedicate long hours to paperwork and could easily keep on top of marking and preparation.

You won't get rich in spain, but if you don't need to save or to send money home, it's a great place to live and work. A word of warning however, there are some schools who play it fast and loose with employment law and assume that their staff, being foreigners, will just assume that's how things are in spain. There are other schools however who do things properly, you must be careful when choosing.

There are no official pay scales for teachers who work in private schools as they all offer different pay and conditions. The ones I have worked in paid a much lower salary than the UK but I was on contract and my Social Security was paid for. Like most private schools they are there to make money for the owners and that means paying the teachers as little as possible relying on the fact that the sun and lifestyle will make up for the lack of income. Most teachers are young and the turnover is high but it does depend on the school.
The workload is the same in any school so that is no different.
The best thing is to enjoy the experience as teaching is a passport to see the world and if you want to put up with the boredom of Dubai the Emirates is the only place to make money. I have worked in Europe, Far East and Africa and loved it. I only made any money though when I left teaching. Good luck.

Hi i am currently in Madrid and working in a private British school in central Madrid.

Pay varies from school to school, but the "general salary" in a private school is around €25,000 a year gross.
This is more than enough to live off in Madrid even though its a capital city.

Working hours are around 8.30am until 5pm and workload can be heavy in private schools although more than manageable if you plan ahead.

Remember that private school are a business and are there to make profit and to put on a show for the parents and as such resources can be very limited, but this depends on the school and how it is run.

High turnover is mainly due to people coming over thinking its just going to be a Spanish party the whole time and of course a lot of younger people come over an get homesick very quickly.

I know most the British schools well in Madrid so if you need some advice on them or if you need advice on costs or bills in Madrid let me know and ill help you out.

Also please note that Barcelona is slightly more expensive to live in than Madrid too.

€25k pa seems pretty poor for a teacher with a PGCE, QTS and some experience (which is what I assume the good schools require). I believe you can earn a similar amount "just" teaching business English in Madrid?

If you are planning to work for a non private school here, expect a pay that is a lot less than 25k, you'd be lucky to get 22k in a state school.

Teaching is not a well paid job in the uk and it is not here in Spain either, you do it for the love not the pay!

Salaries in state schools in spain vary both by region and by grade, ie they pay their secondary teachers more than their primary ones.

If you're interested, there's a table here http://www.feteugt.es/Data/UPLOAD/GA...-ccaa-2015.pdf

Remember that the monthly salary is paid 14 times, so a gross monthly salary of 2250€ in Madrid equates to an annual salary of 31500€.

Don't come and teach here in Philippines! State school salaries are around £300 a month for a good teacher. No idea what the private schools pay. Mind you, you can just about survive on this if you live with family. You do get a 13th month pay and if you work as an official at elections, you get the massive sum of £25!

Thanks. So it looks like teachers in Madrid are nearly the lowest paid, even though it's one of the most expensive places in Spain to live in. It's also interesting because I've heard the excuse that British school fees are so high in Madrid because the schools have to pay UK salaries to their teachers. Which doesn't seem to be the case. Also it makes me wonder what the Spanish private schools pay their teachers.

There is a nationally agreed scale for private schools as well which includes british/international schools. Some stick to it, some don't and some even pay above it.

To an extent I sympathise with international schools in spain - they simply can't compete with what schools in other parts of the world can offer to their teachers because the market in spain means fees are much lower - and much more affordable.

On the other hand, if you're working legally in Spain you're paying into a good social security system and contributing to what at the moment is a very good state pension. Looking at Greece, however, and the continued pressure on spain from the IMF, it's hard to have faith in that still being the case when I retire.