Average pay of teachers in Estonia to rise to EUR 1,380 next year

TALLINN - The salaries of both kindergarten teachers and school teachers of Estonia will increase in 2018, and the average monthly salary of school teachers will rise to at least 1,380 euros a month, the Ministry of Education and Research said on Wednesday.

Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps is set on Wednesday to meet with leaders of professional unions and associations of municipalities to agree about the new level of the minimum salary of teachers.

"The government has agreed in the talks about next year's state budget about the allocation of additional funds for teacher salaries, which will allow to raise the minim pay of teachers to 1,150 euros or by 100 euros from the present," Reps said through spokespeople.

The average pay of teachers will rise to at least 1,380 euros next year, since the government provides municipalities also with money for the differentiation of teacher salaries. It is therefore possible that the average pay of teachers next year will turn out to be even bigger.

In addition, the government will give money to municipalities to raise the salaries of kindergarten teachers. "The minimum pay of kindergarten teachers will reach 90 percent of the minimum pay of teachers of general education schools, and will become equal to that of school teachers for kindergarten teachers with a master's degree," Reps said.

Where at the beginning of this year the pay of kindergarten teachers varied widely by region, from 520 euros to 1,087 euros a month, from Sept. 1 all municipalities of Estonia have raised the pay of kindergarten teachers to at least 840 euros or 80 percent of the minimum pay of school teachers.

Kristi Mikiver, head of the teacher department at the Ministry of Education and Research, said that the individual incomes of teachers are affected by the fact that 44 percent of the teachers of Estonia's general education schools work part-time. "It is possible for school managers through the organization of the work of a school to reduce the share of teachers working part-time. Municipalities bringing their school network into accordance with the number of pupils will also help to offer full-time employment to teachers and thereby to increase their pay," Mikiver said.

The minimum pay of teachers in Estonia has risen from 644 euros in 2012 to 1,050 euros in September 2017. The average pay has grown from 812 euros in 2012 to 1,211 euros as at Aug. 31 this year.