Teachers’ salaries have increased rapidly, but keeping the growth rate at the same level might be difficult

Eneli Kindsiko, expert at the Foresight Centre, noted that the education development plan of 2021-2035 has set the target for the average salary of a general education school and vocational education teacher to be 120% of the Estonian average. “It is a very positive sign that the target for teachers’ salaries has been achieved faster than expected,” said Kindsiko. “However, due to the difficult situation in the state budget, maintaining this level may prove to be beyond the state’s capabilities in the coming years.”

Bank of Estonia predicts that the average salary will increase by 7.4% this year, thus maintaining the development plan’s target level of 120% would require the average salary of teachers to reach 2,362 euros.

According to Kindsiko, however, the change in Estonian teachers’ salaries have over time been characterised by one-off sharp increases. “For example, extensive salary increases in 2008 and 2023 compensated for the lag in the growth of teachers’ salaries, but a more consistent annual salary increase would provide more security for teachers. This would also help teaching as a profession to become more attractive,” she said.

According to the short report by the Foresight Centre, teachers’ salaries have become more competitive regionally, but it varies considerably from one county to another. For example, a teacher in Harju County earns 13% above the average salary in the county, but in Ida-Viru County, a teacher may earn 55% more than the county’s average.

“Harju and Tartu are the only counties where a teacher earned less than 120% of the average of their county in 2023, but these are also the regions with the highest cost of living, including property prices,” Kindsiko noted. “More than half of Estonia’s teaching staff, or nearly 10,000 teachers, are employed in these two counties. Additionally, we must consider that in Harju and Tartu counties, a teacher with a Master’s degree also has the most alternative job options and their low retention rate in the teaching profession indicates that there are challenges in working conditions and workload.”

Since teachers are generally expected to have a Master’s degree, it is important to compare the teacher’s salary with the income of those with higher education, the Foresight Centre noted. For example, in 2022, the average gross monthly salary of Master’s degree graduates was 2,812 euros, but the average gross monthly salary of a teacher of a general education school was 28% less. “There is a significant number of teachers in Estonia who do not have a Master’s degree, but the salary is similar for everyone,” said Kindsiko. “The requirement for a Master’s degree does not mean a higher salary.”

The analysis by the Foresight Centre reveals that the salary of teachers is higher than the average salary of employees in the field of education in general, however, and exceeded the average salary of a university lecturer with a Master’s degree in 2023.

The short report ‘Teachers’ Salaries’ (in Estonian) is part of the Foresight Centre’s research stream ‘The Future for the Next Generation of Teachers’, which aims to develop scenarios for the need and next generation of teachers up to 2040 based on global and national trends.