Not motivated by money...

Illustration by Matt Kenyon (courtesy of
the Guardian website)

Interesting article at the Guardian website by Zoe Williams on how money isn't an incentive for teachers to "perform." My favourite line is something I've been saying for a long time: "The flaw here is that it doesn't follow that good teaching is engendered by specific financial rewards. It's quite possible that teachers entered the field in the first place because they weren't that interested in competing for money."


I believe that teachers teach because they want to teach (intrinsic motivation) - not because they think it's a well paid job that will get them everything money can buy! School holidays are a good reward for everything a teacher does, but not the reason for becoming a teacher. (I'm talking about the vast majority of teachers: there may indeed be some that become teachers because it's a job and the holidays are good.)


The Guardian's article is here