North Rhine-Westphalia Closes Teacher Pay Gap as 600-Euro Raises Take Effect
Published on 08/01/2026 at 16:25 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The long-running pay disparity between different types of teachers in Germany's most populous state has finally been erased. From today, every fully qualified educator working at primary, secondary and intermediate schools in North Rhine-Westphalia will be paid on the A13 salary scale, with employed teachers moving to pay group E13.
That means a monthly pay increase of between 600 and 700 euros gross for those affected — the difference between their previous A12 or E12 classification and the upgraded salary band. The adjustment brings an end to a process that had left teachers at Grundschulen and in the Sekundarstufe I earning less than their counterparts at Gymnasien or vocational colleges.
A promise made in 2022, now delivered
The groundwork for today's change was laid two years ago, when the state's coalition agreement contained a phased plan for equalising teacher salaries. In 2023, the state parliament turned that plan into law, with a deadline of 1 August for the full implementation. That deadline has now been met.
The reform is intended to make teaching at primary, intermediate and secondary schools more attractive and to ease the staffing shortages that have plagued these school types. It also means that all teaching qualifications are now compensated on an equal financial footing.
North Rhine-Westphalia is following a pattern seen across much of Germany. The education union GEW notes that only three federal states — Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland — have yet to complete the alignment.
Other states still catching up
Hesse and Bavaria are also working towards the same goal, with plans to raise their teacher salaries to A13/E13 by summer 2028. The issue forms part of a wider debate about making the public sector more competitive as an employer.
The pressure to attract qualified young professionals is mounting. In sectors covered by collective bargaining agreements, training allowances have risen by an average of 3.9 percent recently. In nursing and banking, first-year trainees already earn more than 1,400 euros per month.
The next challenge arrives on the same day
The pay reform coincides with another significant development: the nationwide legal entitlement to all-day childcare for first-graders also takes effect today. Schools must provide eight hours of daily care, with the entitlement set to expand to all primary school grades by 2029/30.
Municipalities including Hamm, Düsseldorf and Krefeld are calling for additional state funding, arguing that operating costs and space requirements for the expansion are enormous. According to the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft, North Rhine-Westphalia will need to create roughly 45,300 new all-day places by the end of the decade.
Teacher salaries may have been equalised, but the next major undertaking is already on the horizon.
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