Primary education teaching professionals: pay and what the work involves

Occupation 2314 · Professional occupations

Primary education teaching professionals

Primary (and middle school deemed primary) and education teaching professionals plan, organise and provide instruction to children at all levels up to the age of entry into secondary education.

How people enter it

Entry is with a first degree that provides QTS (qualified teacher status) or, in Scotland, TQ (teaching qualification); or other relevant degree followed by further postgraduate training (most commonly PGCE – Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Education, or, in Scotland, PGDE – Professional Graduate Diploma in Education). Further and higher professional qualifications are required for some teaching posts. A DBS check is mandatory.

What the work involves

prepares and delivers courses and lessons in accordance with curriculum requirements and teaches a range of subjects
prepares, assigns and corrects exercises and examinations to record and evaluate students’ progress
prepares students for external examinations and administers and invigilates these examinations
maintains records of students’ progress and development
teaches simple songs and rhymes, reads stories and organises various activities to promote language, social and physical development
undertakes pastoral duties
supervises teaching assistants and trainees
discusses progress with student, parents and/or other education professionals
assists with or plans and develops curriculum and rota of teaching duties

Also called

Deputy head teacher (primary school) · Infant teacher · Junior school teacher · Primary school teacher

What it pays

Measure	Hours	Basis	Period	Value	Source
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	317,000.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	335,000.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	365,100.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	9,900.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	30,100.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	374,900.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)
2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	None	2026-03	17,900.00	ONS, Annual Population Survey - employment by occupation (SOC 2020)

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Region	Measure	Hours	Value	Period
East	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	38,300.00	2026-03
East Midlands	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	24,400.00	2026-03
London	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	51,900.00	2026-03
North East	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	14,400.00	2026-03
North West	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	46,200.00	2026-03
Northern Ireland	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	9,900.00	2026-03
Scotland	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	30,100.00	2026-03
South East	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	59,300.00	2026-03
South West	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	31,600.00	2026-03
Wales	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	17,900.00	2026-03
West Midlands	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	26,700.00	2026-03
Yorkshire and The Humber	2314 : Primary education teaching professionals	None	24,100.00	2026-03

Common questions

Does pay for primary education teaching professionals vary by region?

ONS publishes regional pay for this occupation where the survey sample supports it — 12 of 12 cells on this page. The rest are withheld by ONS, and are shown as withheld with the reason, rather than left out.

Where do these pay figures come from?

The Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, published by the Office for National Statistics. Figures are shown exactly as ONS publishes them — we do not adjust, model or fill them in, and every number on this page carries the series and period it came from.

Classified alongside this

Further education teaching professionals · Higher education teaching professionals · Nursery education teaching professionals · Secondary education teaching professionals · Special and additional needs education teaching professionals · Teachers of english as a foreign language · Teaching professionals n.e.c.