What is a good monthly salary for an English teacher in Poland?

That wasn` t only Broniarz who thought so. PiS` hidden intention was to reduce the amount of teachers in Poland to save on salaries. Teachers smelled the rat and they started resigning on their own and look for another work before it was too late.

Now, we see the results of the reform - some teachers have left but new ones aren`t coming in droves to schools. The problem affects city schools most.

Still better for me - I am planning to work even when I am eligible for retirement. My students need me.

OP can try strip club dancing, gonna make that per week lol. But jokes aside, I was offered that last year in a big company. In Warsaw. Of course I passed, Warsaw's rents are expensive. I would've made the same money doing a less stressful & even a much fun job.

Was that a striper club?

No. It was modern slavery aka Out sourcing. You know when a company from a wealthy country moves abroad to save from salaries. American companies are the most abusive so I decided against.

Providing a teacher can get around 30 hours a week, plus possibly a few privates I don't see why an above decent wage isn't possible. The key to that could be to work for different schools and as long as the main school allows for that there shouldn't be a problem.

Remember Poland as a whole doesn't have that many native speakers when compared to other European countries like Spain or Germany and there are many natives who don't actually work as teachers so there is significant demand and not that much competition, even in cities like Warsaw. Then providing you don't drastically overspend on lots of luxuries you can make a significant amount.

2, 3 years ago I still used to do about 65 classes per week. Now it is a little less - due to pandemic and my aging.

65 classes...no wonder you are buying flats for all your kids,adopt me too.Almost 15k a month at least plus school salary dammit.

And? Doesn't change the fact that the salaries for English teachers are among the lowest in Poland. You can make more money digging coal. That's why teachers are forced to take on other jobs and tutor on the side.


And I love it when the teachers union begs PiS for an extra $100 a month because they make so little

Well if you mean hourly pay, the minimum wage apparently is around 17 zl an hour whereas most teachers can get at least 60zl through a school and perhaps 80zl or 100zl privately. If its monthly then 25 hours a week would get around 6000zl before tax. I'm pretty sure minimum wage earners aren't getting that.

But depends what you would define as low pay I guess.

In a state school it is about 30 take home for certified teachers (the last stage of career development) ) plus an extra 13th salary once a year plus various bonuses before Christmas and vacations. Plus Santa Claus presents for kids. Of course, fully paid vacation months.

Therefore I don`t complain about finances in state education. Could be worse.


Dirk, I actually work 9 months and get paid for 12. Isn`t it a nice arrangement? hahaha How long is your holiday in those businesses you slave for?????

Good private teachers earn a lot. My uni friend is a private English teacher.

And those who are not good enough to compete on free market and work for the state earn considerably less and want to put their hands deeper into taxpayers wallets.

Some teachers work for the state and they also give private lessons for their own students which I think is highly unethical.

It is the best to combine both state and private earnings. While in state education, you have benefits and social security and retirement plan, of course.. In private, your wages are twice or thrice higher, depends on your popularity. And it is totally feasable to start work in the state school at 8 am and finish at 8 pm with private lessons. Including Saturdays. In summer, you are paid by the state, while private tutoring ends. I know guys who also work during summer running courses but that is crazy as you can burn out easily in this way. 2 months holiday is a must and I would never give it up .


Yes, you are right, it is unethical. Fortunately, I suppose it isn`t so widespread today as it was in communist times or 1990s. Such loser teachers have already left the system.

I used to try teaching in Warsaw and it was filled with scams. Some of those language schools are crane as hell. They would try to send me to Wilanow for one lesson or pay the same for an hour and half or almost the same as an hour. Later I found this chick who wanted kenos from me from a Facebook social club but she would sometimes not come or say she's busy like one day before the lesson or say she promised it would be two hrs next time but it ended up always being one and I broke it off she basically threatened to hire someone else because I wanted to raise the price. The thing is she also didn't want to come over to my place for the lessons because I think she knew I wanted to fuk her. and she was married.

Not when the average teachers' salary is less than a guy who digs coal. It's only a nice arrangement if you're willing to waste 9 months making crap money to get 3 off. It's like spending an hour taking a survey to get $10. It's only a good deal if your time isn't worth more than $10 an hour.


Unlimited. I work when I want. If I decided not to work for a while I have that freedom. If I want to work I travel to my clients whenever I want and get nice hotels, food, liquor, etc. comped. I can be sitting on the beach enjoying a corona or sitting in my pajamas rolling blunts closing deals on the phone.


Highly overestimated. Stats and numerous sources show otherwise. Private tutors advertise at 50-80 z's, 80-100+ if you're providing a unique speciality like business english, legal english, etc. And that's only in the largest cities like Warsaw, Wroclaw, etc.


Garbage money.

gooverseas.com/teach-abroad/poland#:~:text=In%20order%20to%20teach%20English,is%20%24600%20%2D%20%241%2C000%20per%20month.
payscale.com/research/PL/Job=English_as_a_Second_Language_(ESL)_Teacher/Hourly_Rate
xploretefl.com/articles/guide-to-teaching-english-in-poland/

Just look at the amount of threads on here from people complaining about going into teaching English and then they're shocked that they'll only make about a grand a month rofl


Yes if you're running a business and teaching groups business english, legal english, etc. then you can make great money by Polish standards. Also, you're not dealing with brainwashing pre-teens and teens like our fellow PF LBHs here. You're actually a professional - more of a consultant than teacher. You work a few hours a night when people are off work, offer private tutoring, etc. not working in some grade school or high school.

I see your point, however, I would never give up state school work for one crucial reason - it is a lot funnier than private tutoring. So, I can say - I do private for money and school for fun. If you saw me acting, dancing and singing during various school festivals........ hahahaha

Well, by school I rather meant private language school, apologies if it wasn't clear. I don't know about high or state schools as I haven't worked in one. Wouldn't be surprised if in the latter you earnt less money.

Private schools are businesses of course and have to offer a reasonable rate or teachers would go elsewhere. The salary of course depends really on just how many hours a week you can get. If you're able to get as many teaching hours for a private academy school or privately yourself as a full time office worker (which is possible if you cut down on the prep and try and avoid kids classes) and not get too stressed you would be laughing.

Right now is a paradise for private teaching. I have a friend who gets results with teenagers, and she's working flat out with groups from midday onwards. Each group is paying her at least 150zł an hour, if not more. She's experienced, so her prep time is minimal. After tax, she's clearing in excess of 15k a month.

If the school closures continue, private tutors will be even more in demand.

To give an idea: I know of very weak "teachers" that are still getting 60-70zł an hour, because there's simply so much demand.


Completely unethical. I know of it happening, but most schools regard it as a breach of professional ethics. My friend has a blanket rule that she cannot provide any private tutoring to a student or a family member of a student to avoid any accusations of "pay for grades".

I would say that pawian has done a fair share of it.

Probably not. From speaking to Pawian quite a bit about teaching, he knows what he's doing and gets results. People like that are worth their weight in gold, and they don't need to be dishonest or dishonourable.

Well, I'm not saying you are wrong but on the other hand if he is that age he claims to be and if he in the teaching business for a while it is quit possible he did it at one point in time.

I wouldn't overestimate his integrity even if he know thing or two about his job.

By the way delph are you still an English teacher?

Still, though I'm completely fed up with remote learning and seriously thinking about changing careers because I've had enough. I don't blame the government for closing schools, I think they did the right thing with the winter holidays, but it's just got to the point where I'm fed up. It's because of teaching styles - I rely on a lot of interaction and games, and it just doesn't work well remotely.

We'll see, I'll decide at Christmas. I've got a three month notice period, but the boss says she'll release me early if I find someone to replace me.


Well, Pawian spent time in the US and clearly knows English to a high level, so he might not have needed to do such a thing. That sort of thing was always done by bad teachers who would change grades in exchange for someone taking private classes with them. I remember stories about how high schools that had subjective entry exams were the worst for it, though.

My sister is a school teacher and is saying the exact same thing.

Why don't they like it?

@delphiandomine

Yes, private teaching especially groups pays well. If you're tutoring business people or are hired by a company or work in consulting its fine. But working with a bunch of snot nose kids and their parents for peanuts? No thanks... FTS... and this is coming from someone who looked long and hard into potentially teaching in Poland. It's just not worth it imo. Maybe if ur retired and not even doing it for the money and are set but still, better ways to spend your time.

If I was going to teach English I'd go to the oil rich CIS countries. Kazakhstan has a set of a dozen school chains where theyre paying $80k USD to teach English with full benefit package, room, board, tickets, etc. Best part is that the tax rate is only 10%. Some Arab countries offer similar packages and with no taxes takes out.

It's all a union thing. There is no justification for it - scientific or in statistics. In fact, someone up there said that kids are safer in school than anywhere else. If their parents are in the 25-50 bracket, it's even harder to justify school lockdowns, especially if the bars and the airports are open.

Of course you don't.

That's probably the only thing which unite hardcore supporters of PiS and their pandemic measures with those who support "total opposition".
Of course it had to be the stupidest thing which connect those two groups of morons but still it's a miracle. Rejoice!

PS: Oh no, wait. Both of them also want to kill fur industry in Poland. They'll always find the lowest common denominator. They're not so different after all :-)

Peanuts and yep from my experience with english language schools here, you pay peanuts you get monkeys

It's a tiny and insignificant part of the Polish economy. We can live without propping up incredibly wealthy fur barons who make a fortune from mistreating animals.

Ooops, correction is pending. I gave you an old wage - but I forgot teachers had received a rise this year. So, now I counted it again and one lesson costs the state 40 zlotys take home.

But I counted it using my overtime wages cos it was the easiest. When schools break up for Christmas and I have more time, I am going to count all my state classes this year and compare them to all earnings including benefits.

3000 Euro