Remedial & Special education blog

RemSpecED picked up the following comment posted on Fin24 earlier this week and we wanted to invite some feedback from Occupational and Speech Therapists as to whether they agree with the sentiments expressed by the commenter:

I’m an occupational therapist at a special needs school. It’s interesting to note that everyone says “pay the teachers a better salary”… and then most of the country does not even realise how poorly the therapists are being paid. A newly qualified teacher in a departmental post earns nearly the same than my OT colleague who has been employed by the Dept of Education for the past 17 years – sad, isn’t it? We’re supposed to receive increases or bonuses when we obtain post-graduate qualifications. Alas, one of my Speech Therapist colleagues is currently busy with her PhD, and she has not received any remuneration for completing her Master’s degree. It leaves one rather disillusioned. YET, as therapists we’re not allowed to strike (and I wouldn’t strike in anycase, since I consider it unethical and breaking my Hippocratic oath, and also it would mean losing money from my salary) since we are considered essential medical services. I wish people would understand that increasing the housing allowance from R500 to R1000 could push them into a different tax bracket, meaning they would get less money out than they anticipated. It happened to me when I applied for a housing allowance, out of the R500 I get R168 / month after tax. Why? Because I got pushed into a higher tax bracket by simply adding on R500 to my income. So why not do a smaller, incremental increase on the housing allowance which won’t necessarily push you into a higher tax bracket? As for the salary increase – no employer is under any obligation to provide salary increases on a yearly basis. We should realise that to have a job in SA is a privilege. I earn WAY less than a fresh-out-of-college teacher that’s also employed by the Dept of Education. But you know what? At least I have a job! I realise that I can earn MUCH more in the private sector, but I prefer to provide a service to those who cannot afford private therapy. Do not get me wrong, I salute teachers and lecturers (they are the reason I am the fervent student I am today), but don’t you find it rather sickening that they will waver the education of our future generation over a 1.6% difference in the increase dispute? And that goes for anyone striking right now, busy compromising others’ health. Thus, anyone in the public sector. Rather sad, I’d say.