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Comment by allengeorge | Hacker News Reader

What's the source for claiming that teachers are underpaid in Canada?

Here's an article (admittedly from 2012) on teachers salaries in Ontario: ‪http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/anato...

More recent reports (from the shrill National Post) claim an average salary of almost 87K for secondary school teachers, but they don't state their source information.

Also consider that teachers - like other public sector unions - are one of the last few sectors to get a defined benefit pension plan, a luxury that few others will ever have.

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> teachers - like other public sector unions - are one of the last few sectors to get a defined benefit pension plan

Just to clear up a misconception, teachers get a great pension, but (in Ontario at least) they put 10-13% of they're base salary into that pension plan for their entire careers. Anyone who invests that much money into their retirement will do well.

Also, the Ontario teachers pension plan is one of the best investment groups in the world. Many years they see 20+% returns. They own everything. Sports teams, malls, airports- they own the channel tunnel!

That's fascinating! How is this possible? How come the traders (is that the right terminology) don't get poached by bigger firms?

Are they doing well because they know the local market?

They don't trade as such, they buy (a lot) and hold -- and manage what they buy as well, when they can. Basically, it's the Warren Buffet approach to investment, and it took a long time to build from what used to be a more ordinary-looking pension fund wa-a-a-ay back when I was a kid (50 years ago).

I have no idea how they do it. They also committed to more responsible investing after it was noticed they had investments in cigarettes and alcohol- then made more money than before after the changes.

They still have big challenges though, as they have a lot of baby-boomer teachers retiring, living longer, etc. They only real way they stay afloat at all is because teachers are paid pretty well in Ontario, and they get that double-digit percentage of their paychecks. And with the high salary, there's a big over-supply of teachers wanting jobs, so no one is quitting over it.

What's the market like for teachers who're fully French-English bilingual?

Honestly, unclear. For one thing school boards are motivated to constrain headcount, since that accounts for a massive proportion of their budget spend. On the other hand, demand - especially in the early years - is incredibly high, though it wanes later. Perhaps someone who works in TDSB or the like will respond with some insight.

https://www.thestar.com/yourtoronto/education/2015/11/22/fre...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/ontario-schools-...

Thanks. My wife is French-English bilingual with an interpretation certificate, and she now wants to become a science teacher, and I kinda wanna apply to enter Canada given the recent unpleasantness.

If she's fluently bilingual and skilled you would probably have a much easier time applying via Quebec's immigration program. I assume that you're an engineer, and if so, there are a few startups hiring in Montreal.

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