European Trade Union Committee for Education

Even though every Estonian government constantly declares education and teachers to be a priority, it hasn’t been proved by actions. Before the last parliament elections all the parties promised that by 2019, teachers’ minimum salary will make 120% of the national average salary (in 2016, national average salary was 1119 Euros). The new government that was established on 23 November 2016, has promised the same. In reality, the teachers’ minimum salaries have started receding from the national average since 2016. It is even more concerning in the light of the Education at a glance 2016 report, that stresses the fact that Estonia has one of the oldest teacher population in Europe, and compared with the average salary of other workers with higher education, Estonian teachers’ salaries are one of the lowest in Europe.

Estonia also has a very low percentage of male teachers which is related to earnings. A study about the image and attractiveness of the teaching profession in Estonia carried out by the Ministry of Education and Research, indicates that even though society considers the teaching profession as important, it is still not a popular choice since the remuneration is not competitive.

Another important topic related to the funding of education is the National Audit Office’s audit of Education. It has been recommended to relinquish the earmarked funding and let local authorities decide how they spend money throughout the local education field. Estonian Educational Personnel Union (EEPU) resolutely opposes that recommendation since that decision would undermine the promise to raise teachers’ salaries to the salary level of other highly educated workers.

“The biggest concern is related to the aftergrowth of young teachers – young people don’t want to become teachers and therefore competition for the positions in schools is small, if not to say non-existent. Also the sustainability and quality of early childhood education and hobby schools and the working conditions in those institutions are very important topics. Unfortunately the funding, and therefore the salaries, are very different across the country, which does not motivate our highly educated staff to continue their career in education sector nor does it motivate young people to choose those professions,“ said Mr Reemo Voltri, President of EEPU.

The lack of sufficient investment in education causes other problems in the education sector in Estonia. In many educational institutions, there are no support specialists (special educators, social pedagogues, psychologists) or the existing ones are not used for the intended purpose. Since support staff is paid by the local authorities, the main reason for this problem is, again, the funding. Unfortunately the capability of the local authorities and their priorities vary in different parts of the country.

Finally, there is an ongoing problem with the delegate bodies of local municipalities. In Estonia, annual negotiations are hold between representatives of employees and employers in education in order to fix the minimum salary levels for teachers. The representatives of employers on national level are the Ministry of Education and Research and the delegate bodies of local municipalities - the Association of Estonian Cities and the Association of Municipalities of Estonia. However, the representatives of local authorities have participated in the negotiations only as the observers because they assert that they do not have the mandate to participate as representatives on the employer’s side. As a result, no agreements have been signed and the salary minimums for teachers have been fixed by government regulations.

It is a crucial point for the Estonian social dialogue in education to be able to engage the representatives of local authorities in these negotiations as the employers for municipal schools at national level. EEPU hopes that the ongoing administrative reform will decrease the number of small and incompetent local municipalities and thereby make them more efficient so that the delegate bodies of local municipalities will become equal social partners for negotiations on all levels.