Importance Of Merit Pay For Teachers

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When it comes to performance-related pay or in other words, merit pay, I believe that most people are familiar with this concept. This method of payment means that with more labor, better performance, and results, people can get a higher salary in return. It is very common in many industries, such as in sales or on production lines. However, whether it should be applied to the teaching profession is always a controversial issue. Some people think that it would be unfair for teachers, but others think that this can help increase competition, thereby improving the quality of teaching. These two completely opposite views both seem sensible. However, in my opinion, merit pay for teachers is necessary because it can improve teachers’ motivation, …show more content…

We have to admit that humans often need incentives. For most people, money is a driving force which can inspire them to make progress (Barbieri, 52). If by performing better, you could earn more money, I think most people would gladly perform well and strive to achieve better results. Teachers are also human beings, and the vast majority of them would feel the same. Higher wages can increase the enthusiasm and motivation of teachers. At the same time, merit pay can improve teachers’ motivation, not only because of the money, but also because of a sense of accomplishment (Honawar and Olson, 26-27). When a teacher, through his or her own careful research of teaching strategies, passion, and devotion to teaching, help his or her students get better grades and is also rewarded by the schools, he or she will be filled with a sense of purpose. This will make that teacher know his or her effort is worth it, and in following lessons he or she would strive to expend even more energy and time to improving his or her teaching level and quality. Meanwhile, outstanding teachers will also become role models for other teachers who do not get bonuses. In this case, in a school, it will form a healthy competition among teachers. Everyone will be more diligent and strive to improve the level and quality of their …show more content…

So even if teachers do their best, some of their students cannot get good grades (Solmon et al., 21-22). Yes, it is true. There will always be a small number of students who are hard to handle. However, merit pay is a salary paid based on employee performance, for a teacher, which is means based on their students’ score. In other words, the teacher whose students get better grades, are the people who can earn a higher salary. So what is the definition of better? If we compare all of the teachers in a country or in a state and choose who is better, this would not be fair. Nevertheless, if we just compare the teachers who are in the same schools and teaching students who are at the same level, this would be more equitable because they are teaching students who have similar abilities. Every class has good students and bad students, we can contradistinguish the average mark of a class for same exams like SAT or AP. Schools can give higher payments to the best teacher at every level. Merit pay is impartial as long as we use it in right

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