Teachers' basic salary currently runs on a 25-point scale from £16,253 to £31,591, with extra payments depending on qualifications and responsibility.
These salaries are set out under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness (PPF). By October 2002, the scale will run from £17,833 to £34,662.
A starting teacher, with a degree and a Higher Diploma in Education, enters at level three, earning a basic £17,406, before allowances. The salary rises with experience.
Extra payments run from £311 a year for a teacher with a pass H Dip in Ed, through to £2,581 for someone with a first- or second-class primary degree, £2,884 for someone with a first- or second-class Masters degree, and £3,222 for a teacher with a PhD.
Allowances for principals in a secondary school run from £4,886 to £20,144, while deputy principals' allowances, range from £1,978 to £12,452.
Assistant principals are allocated an extra £4,473 p.a., and teachers with special duties get an extra £1,978.
The ASTI wants the Government to increase basic pay immediately by 30 per cent. The union will get over 19 per cent through the PPF but says this is inadequate. The Government says a new benchmarking body will give them over 19 per cent. However, the ASTI claims there is no certainty the new body will award teachers any money and it is not prepared to wait for its work to begin.