Ad description
A TV ad by the Department for Education, first seen on 27 October 2015, promoted its ‘Get Into Teaching’ campaign. The ad featured a female teacher walking along a corridor who said, “What does a good teacher make these days?” The ad then featured a number of teachers who said the following: “They make the complex understandable and the mind-boggling magical”, “They make sense of matter and of what matters”, “They make the curious expand their horizons”, and “They make futures into reality”. On-screen text at the bottom of the ad stated “Salaries & bursaries subject to eligibility & location”. The ad then showed a male teacher who stated, “And if you’re wondering what else a good teacher makes, it’s probably more than you think.” On-screen text then stated “£22k to £27k minimum starting salary”, “Up to £30k tax-free to train” and “Up to £65k as a great teacher”.
Issue
The complainants challenged whether the claim "Up to £65k as a great teacher" misrepresented the potential salary of teachers.
Response
The Department for Education said the purpose of the ad was to encourage people to consider a career in teaching and that it set out the potential pay available to those who wished to become ‘great teachers’.
The Department for Education argued that it was common practice for careers and jobs to be advertised by reference to the bottom and top salaries available, which was the case with this ad. It made clear that the ability to earn ‘£65k’ was subject to eligibility and location and the wording “up to”, together with the information for starting salaries, indicated that there was a range of potential salaries available. They also believed that “Up to £65k as a great teacher” would be understood as an aspirational figure.
The Department for Education pointed out that the ad directed viewers to the “Get Into Teaching” website which provided detailed information on the salaries available. They referred to published statistics in the workforce census report titled ‘School Workforce in England: November 2014’, published in July 2015. That showed that in November 2014, there were 12,845 teachers who earned £65,000 or more; 12,360 of those were teachers in leadership roles; the remaining 485 were classroom teachers. They said that the information showed thousands of teachers in a range of roles earned £65k and thousands more earned up to £65k. They also said that teachers at all stages in their career taught in classrooms, including those in leadership positions.
The Department for Education stated the ad did not attempt to define the meaning of a “great teacher”. Great teachers were found in a range of teaching roles including leadership roles and they could earn up to £65k in a number of ways. Those included Leading Practitioners, a relatively new role introduced in 2013, in inner London. Some teachers could also earn this figure where schools had the freedom to pay more, and in leadership roles.
Clearcast said the salary was an aspirational figure and they did not consider that a threshold proportion of teachers were needed to be earning that amount. However, they considered that it should be an attainable income that would represent top earners within the profession, which they considered it was.
Clearcast stated that the on-screen text “Salaries & bursaries subject to eligibility & location”, qualified the “Up to £65k” claim. They therefore did not consider the claim was an exaggeration or would mislead viewers, but that it represented a goal that relied upon certain factors, much like any other career.
Assessment
Not upheld
The ASA recognised that the aim of the ad was to encourage viewers to consider a career in teaching and that the ad was directed through its content at viewers who were interested in becoming a teacher, whether at the start of their career or as a career change.
The ad started with a voice-over that said, “What does a good teacher make these days?” Immediately before the salary information appeared on-screen, a male teacher said, “And if you’re wondering what else a good teacher makes, it’s probably more than you think.” The claim "Up to £65k as a great teacher” was presented after the minimum starting salary range and potential bursary amounts were revealed. We noted that the ad focused primarily on teachers in classroom situations, as it depicted a number of teachers conducting classes in different subjects, such as sciences, Chinese and drama, but we did not consider that viewers would infer from that, that the salary information represented a pay scale for classroom teachers only. We considered that viewers were likely to understand that the salary information represented a pay scale, from starting salary to an aspirational but achievable salary for “good” or “great” teachers, including those who had progressed to senior or leadership roles.
We understood the complainants’ concerns that the figure of “£65k” related to the maximum salary allowed by the established pay scale for Leading Practitioners (the highest of the three pay scales for classroom teachers) working in Inner London. However, we considered that most viewers would understand that the achievement of top range salaries would depend on a number of factors, such as location, responsibilities and competence. We noted from the Department for Education’s School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2015 that it was possible for teachers to earn £65k through means other than being a Leading Practitioner in Inner London, such as being promoted to a leadership role (which may still involve a degree of classroom teaching) or receiving allowances or other payments outside of the established scales. We also noted that the figures published in the ‘School Workforce in England: November 2014’ report demonstrated that over 12,000 teachers earned £65k or more. For those reasons, we considered that the ad did not misrepresent the potential salary of teachers and was therefore unlikely to mislead.
We investigated the ad under BCAP Code rules
3.1
3.1
Advertisements must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.
and
3.2
3.2
Advertisements must not mislead consumers by omitting material information. They must not mislead by hiding material information or presenting it in an unclear, unintelligible, ambiguous or untimely manner.
Material information is information that consumers need in context to make informed decisions about whether or how to buy a product or service. Whether the omission or presentation of material information is likely to mislead consumers depends on the context, the medium and, if the medium of the advertisement is constrained by time or space, the measures that the advertiser takes to make that information available to consumers by other means.
(Misleading advertising),
3.9
3.9
Broadcasters must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that the audience is likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.
(Substantiation),
3.10
3.10
Advertisements must state significant limitations and qualifications. Qualifications may clarify but must not contradict the claims that they qualify.
(Qualification) and
3.12
3.12
Advertisements must not mislead by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product or service.
(Exaggeration), but did not find it in breach.
Action
No further action necessary.
