The average salary for teacher-training graduates had increased despite the economic downturn, topping the incomes of graduates in other disciplines, a survey revealed this week.
More than 750 bachelor's graduates from the Hong Kong Institute of Education responded to its annual employment survey. As at the end of last year, 99.2 per cent of them had found a teaching job and their average monthly salary was HK$19,791, a 5 per cent increase on the HK$18,854 for the year before.
The rise in salary amid the economic downturn is due to adjustments made by the government to the pay structure for aided schools' teachers two years ago. Starting points for salary were increased from HK$20,000 to HK$25,000.
The salaries earned by graduates in the preschool sector have also increased. The survey found that about 99 per cent of graduates in early childhood education had secured full-time employment, with their average salary hovering around HK$12,600, an 11 per cent increase on the HK$11,350 for 2007 graduates.
Lam Chi-chung, associate vice-president and dean of students at the institute, was optimistic about the prospects for teaching graduates.
'I am happy that our graduates' salaries have increased and they have not run into much difficulty in their job-seeking even amid the economic downturn,' he said.
The institute's registrar, So Kwok-sang, said it received a flood of applications this year for teacher-training programmes.
