Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate she has made of the average pay gap between further education college lecturers and school teachers.

The government’s role in relation to pay and conditions across schools and colleges differs.

The statutory requirements for teachers' pay and conditions within maintained schools in England are set out in the ‘School teachers’ pay and conditions’ document. This is updated each year, based on recommendations from the independent School Teachers’ Review Body.

In 2023/24, the median Full Time Equivalent (FTE) salary for classroom teachers in secondary schools was £47,666.

Further education (FE) colleges were incorporated under the terms of the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act, which gave them autonomy over the pay of their staff. The government does not set or recommend college teacher pay.

In 2023/24, the median FTE average salary for teaching staff on permanent or fixed term contracts in general further education colleges was £36,316 and £47,133 in sixth form colleges.

The school and FE pay figures are sourced from different datasets and recorded differently which may make it difficult to make direct comparisons.