Teachers in the UK are relatively well-paid.

Such a statement is likely to provoke cries of protest in school staff rooms up and down the country, but it is the view of an influential group of MPs.

In its report on teacher recruitment, the House of Commons Select Committee on Education quotes data collected by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which appears to suggest this conclusion.

"Figures prepared by the OECD show that teachers in the United Kingdom are not badly paid in comparison with other countries, when teachers' pay is measured against average income per person," says the report.

Although many UK schools are finding it difficult to fill vacant teaching posts, only in Portugal, Spain and Ireland do teachers receive relatively more than their British counterparts.

Graduates who become teachers start on £15,000 a year

British teachers are deemed to be relatively better off than colleagues in other OECD member countries such as Germany and the United States.

A glance at the pay scales for classroom teachers appears to support the contention that teachers are relatively well-paid.

Based on a system of points awarded for factors including qualifications and experience, salaries currently range between £13,131 (no points) to £35,166 (17 points) per annum. A London weighting scheme operates, ranging from £525 in the fringe areas of the capital to £2,061 in inner London.

Graduates who enter the profession with a first or second class honours degree receive an automatic two points, putting them on a basic annual starting wage of £14,751.

But moving up the scale is a slow business. A graduate who receives the automatic two points on entry will be awarded an extra point for each of the next seven years, as long as their performance is satisfactory.

Teachers who entered the profession in 1991 and trod this route would now be receiving £22,023 a year.

Although other points are awarded for a variety of reasons, including additional responsibilities, reaching 17 points is all but impossible.

Teachers progress slowly up the salary ladder

A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers, Olive Forsysth, said few teachers made it past point 13 of the pay scale - currently worth £28,539 - before leaving the profession.

"A head of department in a secondary school is unlikely to earn beyond about £28,000," she said.

And she is dismissive of comparisons with other OECD countries.

"They take no account of the qualifications teachers are required to have. In some countries, teaching is not a graduate-only profession.

"In this country, you have to spend at least three years doing a degree and then a further year doing the Postgraduate Certificate of Education."

Although asserting that UK teachers are relatively well-paid, the Commons Select Committee on Education also recognises that the slow climb up the pay ladder is a problem.

"It was generally accepted among witnesses that the starting salary for teachers did not compare too badly with the average for graduates generally," says its report. "The deterrent was seen as being the salary progression."

The government's staging of the teachers' pay rise this year, with part of the increase paid from April and the remainder from December (the latter taking the salary range up to £13,362 at no points and £35,787 at 17 points), reinforces the impression that teachers are the paupers of the professional classes.

'Super teachers'

The only way to make relatively good career progression, it appears, is to move out of the classroom and into school management.

Headteachers and their deputies are paid on a scale based on the number and ages of children in the school, ranging from around £25,000 at a small primary to almost £60,000 at a large secondary.

The government recognises this as a problem, and proposes a new grade of "super teachers" (officially known as Advanced Skills Teachers) who would be paid between £25,000 and £40,000 to keep their experience in the classroom.

But teaching unions are deeply unhappy about such a move, which they argue would lead to a small number of teachers cutting across existing pay arrangements and causing deep resentment in school staff rooms.

Margaret Hodge tells Radio 5 Live that schoolchildren do not always need a highly qualified teacher

An intriguing solution to the problem of teachers' pay and recruitment to the profession has been suggested by the Labour MP who chairs the Commons Select Committee on Education, Margaret Hodge.

She proposes a reduction in the number of teachers, leaving a smaller - but well-paid and highly qualified - teaching force who would be assisted by an increased number of relatively low-paid teaching assistants.

A large across the board pay increase for teachers is not a prospect in a country where both major political parties chant the mantra that public spending must be kept down.

Fewer, better-paid teachers may well be the only way to square the circle.