At CE, for native teachers (born in USA, GB, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa), we pay the market English school rate of between 16 to 20 Euros an hour. 16 Euros is the base rate and ETS (Extra Travel Supplements) kick it up from one to a maximum of 5 Euros (we rounded it to 20 as 21 can happen but it is unusual).
For bilingual teachers (born in another country but with a bilingual English level) we pay between 14-18 Euros an hour. The base rate is 14 Euros and ETS (Extra Travel Supplements) kick it up from one to a maximum of 5 Euros. We feel we are very fair with the ETS, because the entire ETS goes to the teacher. We do not take a cut of the ETS, it’s all for you!
Hourly wages vary between schools, but the Canterbury English range is considered market price. This wage is in your pocket after taxes etc. Many English schools quote you higher rate, but when it gets down to the take home dough, it’s whittled down to a lower rate than Canterbury English, because it’s not a net wage they initially attract you with but a gross wage.
But what you are interested in is in the pocket, so at Canterbury English we don’t play with inflating the wage to make it look good on paper, we tell you the net take-home wage.
We charge a Mom & Pop 21 Euros the hour for a class for a Bilingual teacher and 24 Euros an hour for a Native teacher, so the margins are quite small for English schools. We’ve tried putting up our prices to be able to pay our teachers more, but when we have done so, there is an automatic plummet in demand. You just can’t charge more than this for an hour of English, the market won’t support it.
Working Ma’s and Pa’s can’t pay any more than this to have their children educated and after all, one must ask oneself, are we in this just for the money, or are we providing a service that helps people in life. If we are, we don’t’ want to try and overcharge them. Our service must be able to be affordable for them and fit into their monthly Spanish household budget. Private English classes are already somewhat of a luxury in Spain, so let’s keep it affordable. What comes around goes around!
Some TEFL programs say that you can charge between 34 and 40 Euros an hour for a specialty class. Maybe Filipe IV, the King of Spain, will pay that price, but he speaks perfect English, so he doesn’t need classes! What they also don’t tell you is that to charge the highest end class (for example you find a company that wants to pay for a group class directly to you without going through an English school), then you need to provide an official bill (factura) for them.
To provide an official bill, you have to be registered with the government as a self-employed worker (freelance and you can’t do this on a student visa) and be paying your Social Security fees which is 341 Euros a month, 12 months a year. Not many English teachers can do this. This is the reality. That’s why you can’t directly work for a company and if you can’t directly work for a company, then you can’t charge that kind of money.
Our highest-most expensive specialty class for a group of ten students is 34 Euros an hour, out of which we have to subtract Social Security, taxes, rent, employees and a long etc. And we’ve been here in Madrid doing this for almost 30 years! So now you have the real and honest information about what you can charge. And that is important for you so you can make the correct decision about your life.
We want you to come and do our TEFL program and live the adventure we ex-pats are living. But we are going to be honest about it, so that you know exactly what to expect when you arrive in Spain, because you’re going to find out anyway once you’re here and we’re going to be friends and colleagues and have drinks together at pub night, so friends tell friends the truth!
Earn money working with us and live a great experience with your english teacher jobs.
© 2020 Canterbury English TEFL
C/ Doctor Esquerdo 112. 28007 Madrid
SPAIN CALL US ☏ +34 637 747 234