I wrote all of that out at work during a down period, and realised you were in fact talking about education/teachers. My bad.

From a recent chat with a friend of mine who is currently a teacher, he was explaining that the salaries go up slightly every year or so, not usually in line with inflation but a boost nonetheless. Looks like the base rate for a fresh primary school teacher in NZ is:

2019 = 48k

2020 = 49k

2021 = 51k

Secondary starts slightly higher, but taps out similarly at 90k even with an MA/PhD - so you're left having to tack things on like being a Director or Principal to have extra allowance.

As to the government involvement in pushing for higher pay in any kind of educational institute? I think we're often left bouncing between Labour and National - one will stay in power for one, two or three terms (National managed 2008 - 2017 before Jacinda kicked the fuckin' door in). But eventually a switch happens and the first year or two is spent either undoing or repealing whatever they can of the previous administration. As a result, I can't recall much effort being expended to really make education a lucrative and enticing career. People seem to do it because they really want to be teachers, or lecturers. Shit I was going to go back to uni to be a teacher, I'm young and male, they'd snap me up.

But if you were to ask people off the street who the most underpaid people are in the country, it's a tie between nurses and teachers. Both are undervalued, both have been at breaking point through the pandemic, and very few people want to fill the gaps.

At the uni I work at, I don't know if this is common elsewhere, the academics are expected to operate on a 40/40/20 split. 40% teaching, 40% research, 20% service. That 40% research is where everyone higher up wants you to focus, as it brings in the moolah. So teaching becomes a necessary evil to get access to research time, so you can pump out publications which you can attach to your performance review, for the upcoming year.

Apologies if I'm waxing lyrical about shit you already know, just trying to paint the picture of the NZ education world, you could be quite familiar with how it all looks. In the end though, people are underpaid, overworked, and NZ ain't cheap to live in so many educators feel they are working almost out of the good of their hearts. Eventually many fuck off to Australia for more money and opportunities. Brain drain is real!