It's back-to-school time again, and teachers and their unions are reigniting the debate over stagnant wages and recurring staff shortages. But which countries pay teachers the best?
The salaries of school staff, and in particular teachers and school heads, make up the largest single cost in formal education, yet teachers in most European countries are often considered underpaid relative to their level of education.
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Some studies put teachers' starting salaries at around 40% less than the earnings of other professionals with a tertiary education, and while the gap narrows as they reach the top of the payscale, a stark geographic divide across Europe persists.
In the 2024/2025 school year, Luxembourg was the EU country that paid teachers the most across most of the education levels they taught at, for both those at the beginning and the peak of their careers.
That's according to Eurydice, the European Commission-funded education information network.
The Grand Duchy paid professionals at the start of their careers between €55,000 and €62,000, while it paid €97,000 and €109,000 at the top of their careers.
The Netherlands and Germany came in second place, depending on the education level the teacher works at and what stage of their career they are in.
On the other hand, Slovakia, Czechia and Hungary were the EU countries that paid teachers the least at the top of their careers.
Depending on the education level that the teacher taught at, Slovakia paid their employees between €18,000 and €22,000, while Hungary and Czechia paid up to €27,000.
Meanwhile, teachers in Greece and Slovakia earned the least at the start of their careers, with salaries of up to €17,000.
How long does it take for teachers to reach their peak career?
Career progression is often linked to teachers' roles and responsibilities, years in service, age, qualification level, and general performance.
It takes teachers in 11 EU countries between 31 and 40 years to reach the top of their career, depending on the education level, according to Eurydice.
Only in Denmark and Finland do teachers need up to 10 working years, depending on the education level.
As teachers progress in their careers, so too do their salaries grow, and this is a crucial factor in determining the education profession's attractiveness and retention rate.
It's something that not just teachers benefit from: better salaries for teachers also tend to lead to improved learning outcomes for students, according to a 2025 OECD study.
Eurydice figures say that teachers in Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Slovenia will see the biggest salary jump among EU countries between the start and peak of their careers.
The debate on teachers' salaries and their progression has gained renewed interest in France, after the education ministry recently said on its website that a national education teacher received on average €3,090 net per month in 2024.
However, this figure reflects an average of all teachers' possible statuses: school teachers, certified teachers, associate professors, and more elite professors.
In addition, contract teachers, who represent 8% of the teaching staff, were not counted in this average, even though they are the lowest paid.
Furthermore, French teachers are among the five EU countries where salaries failed to keep up with the cost of living crisis, decreasing by 0.61% between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 school years, according to Eurydice.
In the EU, only Romania (-6.34%), Slovakia (-4.07%), Italy (-1.60%), and Belgium's French Community (-0.71%) ranked lower than France.