{"id":812678,"date":"2025-02-20T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=812678"},"modified":"2025-02-20T11:57:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T09:57:05","slug":"how-much-money-teachers-earn-in-south-africa-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wealth\/812678\/how-much-money-teachers-earn-in-south-africa-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"How much money teachers earn in South Africa in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With public sector workers agreeing to a 5.5% wage increase for 2025, teacher salaries in South Africa are expected to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest salary scales for teachers in South Africa show the various salary bands for government educators effective 1 April 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, 19 February, public sector unions agreed to a multi-year wage increase with the government that will see these valued rise by 5.5% from 1 April 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), which negotiates on behalf of various public sector unions, met with the state this week to sign draft agreements on the offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of January 2025, the government submitted a final wage offer and cost-of-living adjustment for public service workers of 5.5% for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offer included CPI-linked adjustments for 2026 and 2027, capped at 6% and bottoming out at 4% to contain any wild inflation fluctuations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the official salary adjustments will only be gazetted by the Department of Basic Education in June 2025, the agreed hikes do indicate where the increases will likely settle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teacher salaries in South Africa are structured around specific bands and ‘notches’ that vary according to experience level and position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lowest bands represent newly qualified entry-level teachers. The notches and bands increase as teachers gain more experience and take on more responsibilities in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upper bands represent the higher tiers of teaching and school management, typically reflecting the levels of principals or department heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salaries are split across 432 “notches” as determined by the DBE and vary according to Relative Education Qualification Value (REQV) levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are standardised levels representing the level of education and qualifications teachers hold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

REQV 10-12 represent teachers with matric and some relevant training, while REQV 13 and above have diplomas and degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teacher salaries in 2025<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Basic Education Minister, Siviwe Gwarube.

The DBE gazettes the official adjustments to teacher salary scales in June based on the approved wage hikes negotiated between the government and unions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lowest notch (001) reflects the lowest salary a teacher in South Africa can earn. This was R154,671 from 1 April 2024. Should the 5.5% wage hike be approved, this would lift to R163,178 in 2025.<\/strong> This is an entry point of R13,600 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upper end of the range, notch 432, reflects the highest salary in the sector, totalling R1,209,279. Factoring in the likely 5.5% increase, this should move to R1,275,798 in 2025. This is a maximum of R106,300 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should also be noted that teachers also receive benefits such as pension contributions, medical aid subsidies, housing allowances, and bonuses, so their total packages may be higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tables below show how teacher salaries could change in 2025 based on the government’s offer of a 5.5% wage increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Classroom Teacher<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role<\/th>Notches<\/th>Min Salary
2024<\/th>		Max Salary
2024<\/th>		Min Salary
2025 (est)<\/th>		Max Salary
2025 (est)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Teacher REQV 10-12<\/td>1-106<\/td>R154,671<\/td>R254,037<\/td>R163,177<\/strong><\/td>R268,009<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Teacher REQV 10-12<\/td>108-268<\/td>R256,395<\/td>R547,305<\/td>R270,497<\/strong><\/td>R577,407<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Senior Teacher REQV 13<\/td>200-268<\/td>R393,402<\/td>R547,305<\/td>R415,039<\/strong><\/td>R577,407<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Master Teacher REQV 13<\/td>232-268<\/td>R460,539<\/td>R547,305<\/td>R485,869<\/strong><\/td>R577,407<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Teacher REQV 14-17<\/td>164-326<\/td>R333,624<\/td>R723,798<\/td>R351,973<\/strong><\/td>R763,607<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Senior Teacher REQV 14-17<\/td>200-326<\/td>R393,402<\/td>R723,798<\/td>R415,039<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>R763,607<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Master Teacher REQV 14-17<\/td>232-326<\/td>R460,539<\/td>R723,798<\/td>R485,869<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>R763,607<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

School Management<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Role<\/th>Notches<\/th>Min Salary
2024<\/th>		Max Salary
2024<\/th>		Min Salary
2025 (est)<\/th>		Max Salary
2025 (est)<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Departmental Head<\/td>210-392<\/td>R412,551<\/td>R997,836<\/td>R435,241<\/strong><\/td>R1,052,717<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Deputy Principal<\/td>244-408<\/td>R487,737<\/td>R1,078,725<\/td>R514,563<\/strong><\/td>R1,138,055<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Principal P5 (highest P level)<\/td>350-432<\/td>R813,675<\/td>R1,209,279<\/td>R858,427<\/strong><\/td>R1,275,789<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The full salary notches effective 1 April 2024 can be read here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public sector workers will get a 5.5% wage hike in 2025, which means teachers will be getting salary increases. This is what they’re expected to earn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":812806,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9880],"tags":[10297,1439,21773,21774],"class_list":["post-812678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wealth","tag-department-of-basic-education","tag-salaries","tag-teacher","tag-wage-negotiations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812678"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812678\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813326,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812678\/revisions\/813326"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}