Do you want to work as a teacher in New Zealand? If so, then you need to know how much a teacher earns in the country. This will help you decide whether teaching in this country is definitely worth it or not. Aside from the salary, you also need to know about the expenses and salary deductions. Then you can begin to further decide whether the deductions and expenses are enough to discourage you from your plans or not.
Also Read: Most In-Demand Jobs in New Zealand
To know more about the salary of teachers in New Zealand, you can always go to New Zealand’s Ministry of Education website. You can also watch videos on YouTube regarding this subject matter, and in fact one of these videos is featured in this article.
Disclaimer: The information posted here is based on the personal experiences shared by the OFW in the video below. Please let this post serve as a guide only. If you have specific questions, you may ask the OFW by commenting on their video on their accounts.
How Much Can You Earn Working as a Teacher in New Zealand?
As mentioned above, the information presented in this article is from a YouTube video by OFW Maribeth Estimos. You can access the full video below:
In the video, she presented a table that shows information regarding the salary of an OFW in New Zealand. The table contains the following information:
- Steps
- Qualification Group
- Date
- Salary Rates
During July 1, 2019, the Ministry of Education of New Zealand released news stating that there will be a salary adjustment for teachers from 2019 up to 2021. The table reflects that as well.
Aside from this, there are other factors that should be considered for the salary of a teacher. It’s stated in that table what those are. One of these include your qualifications, which can be determined through the IQA , or the international quality assessment.
Another factor is the work experience. When it comes to work experience, the one that is counted is your work experience in New Zealand. If you are worried that you have lots of experience in the Philippines or overseas, then is this not counted?
Your work experience abroad, not in the Philippines, is a big deal. It has bearing when you are applying for a teacher registration.
However, if we are talking about salary, then that really depends on your qualifications, and for work experience, that is based in New Zealand.
If you have no work experience in New Zealand, especially since it is your first time coming to the country to work, then you will fall under the entry level category.
As an entry level teacher, they will assess your qualifications and then put you in the basic salary.
Unified Base Salary Scale for Trained Teachers
The following are the steps for teachers in New Zealand and their corresponding salaries starting July 2021:
- Step 1 – annual rate of $51,358, or around 1.8 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 150,000 Php per month.
- Step 2 – annual rate of $53,544, or around 1.88 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 157,000 Php per month.
- Step 3 – annual rate of $55,948, or around 1.97 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 164,000 Php per month.
- Step 4 – annual rate of $58,133, or around 2.04 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 170,000 Php per month.
- Step 5 – annual rate of $61,794, or around 2.17 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 181,000 PhP per month.
- Step 6 – annual rate of $65,776, or around 2.31 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 193,000 PhP per month.
- Step 7 – annual rate of $70,040, or around 2.46 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 205,000 PhP per month.
- Step 8 – annual rate of $75,190, or around 2.64 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 220,000 Php per month.
- Step 9 – annual rate of $79,413, or around 2.79 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 233,000 Php per month.
- Step 10 – annual rate of $85,490, or around 3.01 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 251,000 Php per month.
- Step 11 – annual rate of $90,000, or around 3.16 million pesos per year. This is equivalent to a gross monthly salary of 264,000 Php per month.
Qualification Group Notations
The table also shows letter and number codes that represent Qualification Group Notations for every step. The letters are Q, E and M. So what do these mean? Well, according to the vlogger, here’s a list of some of the qualification groups and what they mean, or who belongs to these groups
- Q1, Q2 and Q3 – you belong to this group if you have a current practicing certificate from the country’s Teaching Council, but you don’t have any level 7 (or higher) specialist qualification, as deemed by the NZQF (New Zealand Qualifications Framework).
- Q3+ – you belong to this group if you have a current practicing certificate from the country’s Teaching Council, and you have the following:
- You have a Diploma, Graduate Diploma, or Degree
- An honours degree of teaching
- You have similar degrees but you obtained them overseas, and the NZQA deems that they are equivalent to level 7 specialist qualification.
- Q4 – you belong to this group if you have a current practicing certificate from the country’s Teaching Council, and you have the following:
- You have an honours degree or Post Graduate Diploma (this is equivalent to specialist level 8)
- Two subjects or specialist level 7 qualifications
- Masters degree of teaching
- You have degrees similar to those mentioned above but you got them overseas, and the NZQA deems that they are equivalent to what New Zealand requires.
- Q5 – you belong to this group if you have a current practicing certificate from the country’s Teaching Council, and you have the following:
-
- You have a masters or a doctorate (this is level 9)
- You have degrees similar to those mentioned above but you got them overseas, and the NZQA deems that they are equivalent to what New Zealand requires.
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One random note from the vlogger: If you are given a senior management or middle management position, you will get an extra allowance to your annual salary.
Salary Deductions
The salaries above may look really high, but these are just gross incomes and the deductions were not yet included, including the taxes.
As a summary, here are the salary deductions to expect:
- Tax
- KiwiSaver
- Weekly or monthly expenses
- Other personal expenses – these may include sending money back home to your family in the Philippines, your personal needs and wants.
Tax
This is one of the biggest deductions. In New Zealand, every time you receive a salary, tax is deducted. In addition, the higher your salary gets, the higher your tax is.
In fact, this is the salary bracket for income tax rates in New Zealand:
- Up to 14,000 NZD – your tax rate is 10.5 percent
- Over 14,000 NZD and up to 48,000 NZD – your tax rate is 17.5 percent
- Over 48,000 NZD and up to 70,000 NZD – your tax rate is 30 percent
- Remaining income over 70,000 NZD – your tax rate is 33 percent
As you can see, even if you receive a huge salary here, in fact much higher than what you earn back in the Philippines, just bear in mind that the tax deductions are also really high.
In fact, sometimes if you receive your salary weekly, you will also get tax deductions on a weekly basis. You can also get your salary fortnightly.
The vlogger mentioned that she used to work in Singapore, and that what she missed about Singapore is that her tax deduction there only happens once a year. There, she feels that for most of the year, she truly receives her salary in full every month, without deductions.
Having said that, she’s really okay with the high taxes in New Zealand since she can see where all that money goes. The government of New Zealand is also very transparent as well with regards to their projects.
KiwiSaver
Kiwisaver is basically a saving scheme that can help you if you wish to save up money for retirement. If you want to avail of this, you can either pay through a scheme provider or you can ask your employer to set this up for you through salary deductions.
KiwiSaver is not mandatory. It is voluntary and is only available to residents and citizens of New Zealand. The vlogger mentioned that in her case, she preferred to have a Kiwisaver.
She said that having a KiwiSaver means you are thinking long term, and that you know in the future you will get some money that she can use so she can bring her kids back in the Philippines to live with her in New Zealand.
The purpose of KiwiSaver is to save up for the future. For example, if you want to buy a house, you can buy this. Also, if you are already on your retirement age, you can get pension from the government.
According to Kiwi Health, for a salary deduction scheme on your Kiwisaver, you have the following options:
- 3 percent
- 4 percent
- 6 percent
- 8 percent
- 10 percent
One great thing about the KiwiSaver is that your employer will also match your contributions, although many of them stick to just giving you 3 percent regardless of your contribution rate. Having said that, there are companies that match your rate, even if it is higher than 3 percent.
This implies that when it’s time to get your money in the future, you will actually get a lot more than what you personally saved.
Moreover, if you want to change your contribution rate, then you have to let your employer know by writing them in a KiwiSaver Deduction Form.
In addition, you get 50 cents from the government for every dollar that you put in KiwiSaver. The maximum that you can get in a year is 521.43 NZD.
General Tips
Since you are living and working in a different country, the vlogger mentioned in a separate video that you have to consider the following tips about how to manage your income:
- Budget properly – you have to know how to handle your expenses, setting aside money for savings, food, bills, house rent, and other payments.
- Truly know the cost of living – cost of living really depends on where in New Zealand you are living. Generally, when you are in the big cities, the cost of living is pretty high. The vlogger mentioned that she works and lives in Oakland where, many people agree, it is relatively expensive. In fact, she said a huge chunk of her salary goes to accommodation, the food and transportation.
- Be goal oriented – if you can set short term and long term goals effectively, then that will help you focus on managing your expenses so that they meet these goals. If you’re not used to listing down your goals and ambitions, it’s never too late to start. What you can do is put your goals in writing and put it up somewhere in front of your bed, so that’s the first thing you see when you wake up and the last thing you see when you go to bed to sleep.
- Pray and work hard – the vlogger mentioned that prayer is really effective, but you have to pair your faith with actions.
There you have it. As you can see, the salary of a teacher in New Zealand is pretty high. While the taxes and expenses are high as well, they are all well accounted for in the sense that you can really see where your taxes are going. New Zealand is, after all, one of the best places in the world to live in, and that’s a fact.