Teacher Compensation

This indicator measures the proportion of teachers and education personnel provided with fair compensation for their work, as per the national or other relevant standards in the context. This may include financial compensation (i.e. salary or incentive) or other non-monetary compensation provided through an individual project.

1) Decide what type of compensation is considered valid for this indicator. For example, is there a certain amount teachers or education personnel need to receive in order to be considered ‘compensated’ for their work (refer to national or Education Cluster/Working Group standards, where available). This might be a one-off payment or ongoing amount provided on a regular basis.

2) Determine the total number of teachers targeted to receive compensation over the project period. This data can be gathered from project level documentation or requested from school or learning space management or the relevant education authorities.

3) Use administrative records (for example, project/programme documents or distribution lists) to determine how many teachers or education personnel have received compensation over a given time period. If measuring compensation levels beyond a specific project/programme (for example, to understand trends within government systems for teacher compensation) this information would need to be requested from the government payroll. Refer to Important Comments below for additional guidance and considerations if collecting such data.

4) To determine the indicator’s value, divide this number by the total number of teachers/education personnel targeted, and multiply the value by 100 to convert it to a percentage.

Disaggregation of the data can be done by the education level and/or type of school or learning space (formal versus non-formal). Data can also be collected on teacher demographics (for example, age group,gender, level of education, ethnicity, mother tongue, wealth quintile, disability, displacement status and/or other specific vulnerable or marginalised groups) as relevant.

1) This is INEE Indicator 4.7.

2) In order to cross-check the data collected under this indicator it can be helpful to request additional information from teachers/education personnel regarding the regularity and amount of compensation they receive and to verify their satisfaction with compensation received. Example questions could include:

• Are you paid on a regular basis by [insert name of organisation]?
• If yes, how much are you paid each month?
• If yes, are these payments provided in a timely manner?
• Please explain regularity of payments and amount paid per month.
• Is the amount sufficient to allow you to meet your basic needs without looking for alternative compensation?

3) After determining which teachers and education personnel are provided with compensation for their work – provided that the data is also disaggregated data as mentioned above – determine whether or not the compensation received is equitable amongst them (see Related INEE Indicator 4.6 below).

4) If the purpose for utilising this indicator relates to teachers paid by the national government or relevant education authorities, the questions above can be adapted for this purpose. Considerations of conflict sensitivity and ‘do no harm’ are highly relevant in such instances, and approaches and questions should consider the risk of fuelling discontent, increasing tensions and causing harm. The role of the organisation/institution collecting such information also needs to be carefully considered, including the purpose of gathering such data and the mandate to do so.

5) The main guidance on this indicator is designed to measure the proportion of targeted teachers who have been compensated. If the purpose of the indicator is to assess wider trends in compensation, beyond the project scope, it is also possible to use this indicator to measure the proportion of all teachers in the area – targeted by the action or not – being compensated. To do this, use the total number of teachers in the assessed school/learning space/community/target area as your denominator (rather than the number of targeted teachers). This data can be requested from school or learning space management or the relevant education authorities. Data gathered from measuring the indicator in this way can be used for advocating for fairer conditions for teachers more broadly.

6) To extend this indicator to determine whether teachers or education personnel are receiving equitable compensation for the same position, use the following methodology:

• Using the overall list of teachers and personnel (as in Point 2) request additional information on the levels/positions of each personnel from school or learning space administration. Filter the list by positions, in order to obtain various lists with a number of teachers at each level/position.
• Calculate the average compensation per level/position following these steps: 1) determine the compensation amount per month per person; 2) add together the total monthly compensation for all personnel in the relevant level/position; 3) divide the total monthly amount by the number of teachers/educational personnel in that level/position
• Based on this average, calculate the range that compensation should fall within to be considered equal/equitable. An example could be to use a 5% margin below and above the average.
• Count how many teachers receive compensation falling within the established range, divide this number by the total number of teachers/education personnel at the level/position and multiply by 100 to get to the percentage. The higher the percentage, the more equitable teachers/education personnel are compensated for the same position.
• Repeat above steps for each of the levels/positions
• To analyse the data further, check the teachers/education personnel falling outside the range of compensation and check what they have in common. This could provide information on the criteria that lead to receiving inequitable compensation.

7) Related indicators: 

     INEE

        - 4.6 % of teachers receiving equal/equitable compensation (based on gender, ethnicity, religion; pending context) for same position

        - 4.8 % of teachers and other education personnel who have signed a contract specifying their compensation and conditions of work

        - 4.9 % of teachers supported through coordinated conditions of work across education actors/partners

     IndiKit

       - average monthly income of the employees in the past [specify number] months (see Income from Employment indicator)