Fresh grads or gap year kids will get that. "Proper" teachers with experience at the top schools are on 60-150k.

ou have to also look at the working conditions in teachers' home countries as the U.K. has a major issue and local LEAs have resorted to advertising PGCE and PGDE on TV to encourage people into the profession. I have friends who have taught 20 years plus and are getting out now as they simply can't take the stress anymore.

Pick the right place to live, social and eat when the promotion times are on. I have a great life on 30k a month. The rest you can save. I have a 50/50 split Thai/Western diet. Eat in 5* Hotels for 500-1000 per head. After a year you'll work out where and how to adjust your finances. GBP1000 in Bangkok goes further than GBP3000 in London (social life, rent, transport ). I can do so much more in Bkk. Its amazing!

There is a lot of waffle, miss-information, and a lack of experience or perspective in the responces here. 60k is 3x the national household average salary. It is enough to buy house and run it as a family, buy and run a new car, buy groceries and eat out for a family, have gym membership and holidays. It is not enough to live in a flash down town gaff, drink Starbucks daily, hang out in fancy bars, eat hi-so dinners, and buy designer clothes in Paragon. As for teachers, the standards and qalifications vary greatly. As do salaries. "Proper" teachers, as described earlier, does not best describe the situation. A UK QTS or qualified teacher trained grad from USA is a 'proper' teacher at a school, and they for example can get 50-80k+ straight of uni at a good international school, especially if recruited from their country. Domestic recruits tend to get a little less to start but overall qualified teachers can get 60-100k on an average range. Only the best pay more and, in general, salaries are not going up at the moment. Actually 30-35k TBH is the norm for gap year English positions. But 50k is not out of the question... 30k is very livable, especially up-country. Also 50-100k in general is possible for a specialist university gig, but not at government unis. The upper end can be achieved with a PhD and experience combined with an academic title and active research interests providing funding. These, however, are sweeping generalisations. Anyway absolute and relative comparisons do yeild different results. Compared to the UK or USA salaries are low. But factor in buying power here and you get much more bang for you buck (as others have said). To have the life listed above would require triple the salary in the west, so a $20k US here is equal to about $60k in the US, and maybe more... TBH if a big salary is needed DO NOT BECOME A TEACHER. As for is 30-60 enough to live on well yes and it is easy...