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Comments about wage levels

Dos_Box

By Dos_Box
in General Chat

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Dos_Box

Dos_Box

Posted
Posted

:mod: Just a quick note to remind you all that comments about wage levels for jobs listings are not allowed in the Jobs Forum. This has been in the Jobs Forum rules for a very long time now - 

 

 

We can appreciate that in a lot of cases, the education sector wage levels are often well below that of the private sector, and in the current climate money is tighter than ever, but sometimes these kind of jobs, and even the wage, are perfect for someone out there.
If the job and wage is not for you, then please just simply ignore it, especially as many of these listings posted by members have the T&C's set by the school management, not the IT dept.
Telling off over :mod: 

pete

pete

Posted
Posted

I refrain from commenting (and just note the employer isn't one I should ever consider). 

 

But the commentary usually isn't that "the wage for role X is low compared to private sector".  Instead it tends to be "even for a school, that takes the mickey" or identical roles at schools 5 miles apart* are being offered at significantly different wages with the same intake demographics.

 

*yes Lincolnshire, I'm looking at you.

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Dos_Box

Dos_Box

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Didn't they have that process quite some time back to set the wages for similar roles identically in local govt? I recall quite a bit of consternation from those in IT being graded the same as dinner staff.
I suppose since MAT's became a thing and education almost privatised, they can now set whatever wages they want.

msi_school

msi_school

Posted
Posted

It is called single status and it assigned wages based on the content of the work rather than the traditional wage, so for example the team emptying bins used to get paid much more than the cleaners who filled the bins despite the similar work requirements because emptying bins is a traditionally male job and cleaning is a traditionally female job. This is how Birmingham went bankrupt, they had so many jobs that required the wages increasing that they could not afford it and kept putting it off.

 

This process works with in an employer so LEA staff are grouped with the council but MAT staff are with the MAT, causing staff in neighbouring schools to be on widely different pay and conditions now.

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dmj

dmj

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1 hour ago, msi_school said:

This process works with in an employer so LEA staff are grouped with the council but MAT staff are with the MAT, causing staff in neighbouring schools to be on a race to the bottom with pay and conditions now.

fixed that for you. 

Single status was 1997 ! I feel old. 

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Garacesh

Garacesh

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, dmj said:

Single status was 1997 ! I feel old. 

The school I first worked IT in moved to the single status framework circa 2015. I assume public schools still use it but wouldn't know for certain.

 

More on topic, I'm in personally two minds about this. I appreciate that nobody wants the same cookie-cutter "lmao that salary is insulting" reply to lots of job postings, but on the other hand, it does feel like advertised salaries haven't even kept up with inflation, let alone anything else. Real-terms salaries feel lower these days than when I was working public schools, and I do wonder if the industry as a whole wouldn't benefit from a collective 'Give yer 'ead a wobble, mate'. 

 

Obviously edugeek aren't the arbiter of what does or does not constitute a sensible salary, and obviously they don't want to appear hostile to job listings as it's a source of income - which is reasonable. I just wonder if there's not a worthwhile discussion to be had to find a middle-ground. Ultimately, though, edugeek forum, edugeek rules, so I'm not going to kick up a fuss.

Edited by Garacesh
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BKGarry

BKGarry

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2 hours ago, TheHyperTechie said:

2001 here... (sorry for making you cry even more).

 

Wow!, I sat my GCSEs then, and I am relatively young (or so I tell myself)

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Omega_NL

Omega_NL

Posted
Posted
On 02/10/2026 at 11:33, Dos_Box said:

sometimes these kind of jobs, and even the wage, are perfect for someone out there

Perfect for who is the only question I'm interested in. £28k for a 'Senior Tech', a wage only someone just out of an apprenticeship would be interested in.

Also there have been job postings on here where the listed salary was far too low and it turns out they just typed the wage in wrong, so would we now have to private message them as it's getting hard to tell which salaries are incorrect and which are genuine given how horrendous the salaries nowadays are.

Norphy

Norphy

Posted
Posted
On 02/10/2026 at 16:45, Dos_Box said:

You were 7 when EduGeek went live!
I'm off for a little cry now.

If it makes you feel any better, I'm one of the early wave of users who was working in education when the site started up. You're not the only one who's being made to feel old here :)

6Foot2

6Foot2

Posted
Posted
On 02/10/2026 at 16:45, Dos_Box said:

You were 7 when EduGeek went live!
I'm off for a little cry now.

 

I was 43 when Edugeek went live.

 

😖

Garacesh

Garacesh

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Omega_NL said:

Perfect for who is the only question I'm interested in. £28k for a 'Senior Tech', a wage only someone just out of an apprenticeship would be interested in.

Also there have been job postings on here where the listed salary was far too low and it turns out they just typed the wage in wrong, so would we now have to private message them as it's getting hard to tell which salaries are incorrect and which are genuine given how horrendous the salaries nowadays are.

Admittedly, I'm currently on 28.5 working 2nd line helpdesk/senior tech for a multinational organisation that's been around since the 1900's (as in, pre 1910) so sometimes it doesn't get better outside of education, either. That being said my senior tech duties in corporate are significantly fewer than senior tech in a school would be.

 

IT is a criminally underpaid industry as a whole - you occasionally get unicorns that actually value the people protecting their data and infrastructure, but it seems few and far between.

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sigma

sigma

Posted
Posted

 

10 minutes ago, Garacesh said:

Admittedly, I'm currently on 28.5 working 2nd line helpdesk/senior tech for a multinational organisation that's been around since the 1900's (as in, pre 1910) so sometimes it doesn't get better outside of education, either. That being said my senior tech duties in corporate are significantly fewer than senior tech in a school would be.

 

IT is a criminally underpaid industry as a whole - you occasionally get unicorns that actually value the people protecting their data and infrastructure, but it seems few and far between.

 

Those of us old enough to have been working in tech in the last century can probably recall when it paid, plus bonuses and perks very very well.  (I'm older that 6foot2).  

andy_b

andy_b

Posted
Posted
On 02/10/2026 at 15:12, dmj said:

fixed that for you. 

Single status was 1997 ! I feel old. 

Agreement was reached in 1997, but the deadline for job evaluations and pay reviews was eventually set to March 2007 - so you can feel a little less old now :)

BKGarry

BKGarry

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, MicraMan said:

this will make most of you feel old, 2005 here... 😂

 

Seriously, my Edugeek Account is only a year younger than you 

dmj

dmj

Posted
Posted
17 hours ago, andy_b said:

Agreement was reached in 1997, but the deadline for job evaluations and pay reviews was eventually set to March 2007 - so you can feel a little less old now :)

ahh. I'm sure we got it in 2003 as I think I was one of the first, £21k as a senior tech, or £40k in todays money.

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