and your average starting salary is…

Here are some figures for the 2008-09 school year from Education Indicators in Canada, a comprehensive international report published in 2011 by Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. Interestingly, average starting salaries for Canadian teachers with basic qualifications were consistently higher in 2008-09 than those in other countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): $38,000 versus $29,767 respectively. (Both are expressed in U.S. dollars.) Canadian teachers also reached their maximum salaries considerably faster than teachers in other OECD nations.

$63,331 — Northwest Territories

$51,394 — Alberta

$43,954 — New Brunswick

$41,004 — Ontario

$40,775 — British Columbia

$39,917 — Newfoundland/Labrador

$38,641 — Quebec

$45,270

starting salary in Canadian dollars for primary and lower-secondary teachers with minimum training in 2008-09

7,391

number of hours of formal classroom teaching per year given to Canadian students ages 7 to 14 (versus 6,497 hours for other OECD countries)

50%+

Average amount earned over starting salary after 10 years’ experience

6%

Proportion of Canadian gross domestic product allocated to educational institutions in 2007

$10,429

Average annual expenditure by Canadian schools per student from pre-primary to upper-secondary school in 2007