Low salaries have led to a shortage of teachers in half of Russian schools. Current status and salaries of teachers
44% of respondents say there is a shortage of mathematics teachers in their schools. About the shortage of teachers foreign language stated 39%, teachers of Russian language and literature - 30%. 26% of teachers noted a shortage of staff in primary schools. In the study, experts also noted the continuing problem of increasing the average age of teachers with an “acute shortage” of young personnel.
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Dukhanina believes that the solution could be the introduction of a national teacher growth system, which has been discussed for several years. This system is also mentioned in Vladimir Putin’s new May decrees. “Implementation of a national system for professional development of teaching staff, covering at least 50% of teachers in general educational organizations", named as one of the priority tasks for the period until 2024
It is important to provide in this system not only the requirements for the teacher, but also the requirements for the conditions in which teachers work, pay attention to the ONF. The main measures are a decent salary, reducing the workload and setting work requirements for teachers, the foundation said.
The problem of teacher shortage can be solved by increasing the number of pedagogical universities, suggested in a conversation with RBC the laureate of the “Teacher of the Year 2016” competition, teacher of Russian language and literature at school No. 7 named after G.K. Zhukov city of Armavir Alexander Shagalov. “We have Armavir State Pedagogical University, so there are no problems with personnel in our city. Therefore, our situation is better than perhaps in the country,” he said. At the same time, Shagalov agreed that low salaries are the reason for the shortage of young teachers.
Average wage teachers in Russia increased from 33.3 thousand rubles. in 2016 to 34.9 thousand rubles. in 2017. At the end of 2017, in four regions of Russia, the salaries of school teachers decreased slightly, RBC based on Rosstat data in February. In two more regions, salaries did not increase, and in 46, teachers’ salaries increased by less than 1 thousand rubles.
Almost 60% of Russian teachers are dissatisfied with their salaries, a RANEPA study published in March. Teachers in villages are most dissatisfied with it (60%), teachers in regional capitals are slightly less dissatisfied (59%). Teachers in small towns are most satisfied with their salaries—almost 58% of them. Separately, the study noted that in 2017 the proportion of teachers who were completely dissatisfied with their pay decreased: if in 2016 there were 32%, then in 2017 - 25%.
The press service of the Ministry of Education told RBC that the department will study the ONF research, and noted that in last years schools “are seeing positive dynamics” with staffing. “The shortage of personnel in the country does not exceed 1% of vacancies for teachers in both urban and rural schools. Among the most available vacancies- rural teachers in English. Working as a teacher is increasingly attracting young people, and more and more prepared applicants are entering pedagogical universities, which clearly shows the quality of admission in recent years,” the ministry says.
Over the past four years, the attractiveness of pedagogical programs has increased: the average Unified State Exam score of applicants has increased, 100-point students and winners of Olympiads began to enroll in pedagogical programs, the department also emphasized.
Based on the results of a survey conducted by experts from the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF) and the National Educational Resources Foundation, it was revealed that there is a shortage of foreign language, mathematics, Russian language and literature teachers in Russian schools. In addition, an assessment of the results of this study, in which over three thousand teachers from 82 regions of the country took part, showed the presence of a high workload for teachers and the lack of decent salaries.A shortage of teachers was reported by 48% of respondents. Moreover, according to Lyubov Dukhanina, deputy head of the Duma Committee on Education and Science, teachers leave school right during the school year, “unable to stand it.” high load, including non-teaching, and low wages.” According to the parliamentarian, teachers who left school discourage young professionals from working in these educational institutions. It turns out that the Russian school is constantly engaged in “patching personnel holes.”
L. Dukhanina also drew attention to the fact that in schools there is a situation where teachers are forced to teach subjects from different areas. For example, teacher primary classes starts teaching mathematics in high school, and the history teacher starts teaching geography.
44% of respondents reported a shortage of mathematics teachers in schools, a shortage of foreign language teachers was noted by 39%, Russian language and literature teachers by 30%, and primary school teachers by 26%. In addition, experts noted the still persisting problem of increasing the average age of teachers with an “acute shortage” of young specialists.
The ONF believes that a solution to this situation could be the introduction of a national teacher growth system, which would include not only requirements for teachers, but also for the conditions in which teachers work. Moreover, the main measures should be a decent salary, reducing the workload and determining the requirements for a teacher’s work.
Representatives of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation told RBC that they intend to carefully study the research of the ONF, noting that in recent years “positive dynamics have been observed” in Russian schools regarding personnel composition.
The head of the department, Olga Vasilyeva, states: “The shortage of personnel in the country does not exceed 1% of vacancies for teachers in both urban and rural schools. Among the most available jobs are rural English teachers. Working as a teacher is increasingly attracting young people, and more and more prepared applicants are entering pedagogical universities, which clearly shows the quality of admission in recent years.”
Lyudmila Butuzova
“All this is a lie,” it is written under one of the advertisements. “They only entice you with decent salaries and goodies, you will receive just enough to have enough for food and utilities, and you will have to wear out what your mother bought you for graduation.”
NI correspondentmet with teachers, visited their forums on the Internet and tried to find out why the personnel issue is so acute in schools, what scares specialists in the first place, and how those who have not yet quit work work.
Olga, 24 years old. Works as a history and social studies teacher. Side-swept bangs, a boyish outfit, she came to the meeting with her daddy and a whistle (“the guys and I go out into the countryside, this is a signal - I whistled twice - alarm, general fee, one lingering one - I’m here, I’m not lost). In the folder is a letter of resignation for last year(“evidence of my weakness or, if you like, a small victory over the system - I didn’t give up on it, I stayed in school.”) He tells why he stayed:
I always wanted to work in school. I went to Oryol University (in fact, it’s a former “pedagogist” with a stagnant reputation), not because I wouldn’t go anywhere else, but consciously. An education reform was announced in the country, so I thought that I had to conform, study new methods, choose, and maybe even propose some kind of educational model myself. Alas, there was no trace of any of this during my studies. But I myself found extraordinary teachers through their notes in professional magazines, on the Internet, corresponded with them, went to seminars and am very grateful for this experience.
But they didn’t take me to school, there was no free place. Orel is full of history department graduates, they come, get settled, and after a couple of months they run away from the children like hell. And I cried that my pedagogical baggage was disappearing. A year later, I was invited to a school that was reputed to be innovative. I was in seventh heaven: I comply, everything worked out for me! After all, the most important thing is contact with children. Students share their thoughts, problems with me and ask for advice. This is very valuable. I am on the same wavelength with the children, we often joke and laugh during lessons, after school we go to all sorts of social events, and I see that they began to treat the “boring” subject - social studies - differently: they listen to each other, compare opinions, give their assessments of various events.
I live with my parents, I don’t have my own family yet, so I’m ready to be with my students almost around the clock. But I don’t have this time, it’s consumed by endless bureaucracy. Higher officials need reporting on a daily basis. But there is also a director and head teachers who also need a bunch of papers from me. A big problem these papers. Some reports are not needed at all. For example, we have a regular journal and an electronic one, the entries in them are duplicated. For what? The Ministry issued an order - we do it so as not to get hit on the head. I don’t get tired with children; this formal writing exhausts me. Many teachers can’t stand it; three of us quit right in the middle of the school year. My nerves also gave way... Several times I refused to submit reports on principle - they removed the bonus of 2 thousand rubles, and filed a complaint at the teachers' council. Two thousand is a pity, my salary is 10 thousand, I spend half on professional development and extracurricular activities so as not to collect from children. But most of all, it was humiliating: they were punished for nothing, they simply curried favor with their superiors. I came out in tears, writing my resignation letter on the windowsill. Two of my hooligans appear behind me: “Adyu, Olga Sergeevna? Won’t you even say goodbye?” How can I leave them like this? There was so much light... The paperwork shouldn't cross it all out. Then the headmistress backed down: you are doing well with the children, don’t take unnecessary work to heart, someday it will be canceled. I hope so. But it’s such a pity that time is stolen not only from the teacher, but first of all from the children.
The “new school” turned out to be a crap bureaucracy,” confirms Yuri Krylov, a teacher at the Novosibirsk Pedagogical Institute, who began working at the school in 1995 and left it in the 21st century. “It seems to me that the change of centuries coincided with a change of a very important paradigm in high school. The 90s were poor years for teachers. Then things somehow worked out - they started paying money. In 1998, the default struck, and the teacher’s relatively small salary turned into humiliation. We were lucky: our director was always thinking of ways to help teachers - thanks to her! I think that's why I stayed at school until the beginning of the new century and " new school"But right around 1998, the number of reports and their absurdity began to grow. With each season there were more and more papers - so I left. What can I say, looking back? In the 90s, there was an element of teacher creativity at school. Innovation. But officials don’t like uncontrolled creativity, so reports, plans, tables began. Since the 21st century, creativity has been removed from school and replaced by management, reporting, and then training for olympiads and the Unified State Exam. Perhaps this is the main reason for me to leave. , the programs are abnormally large. And most importantly, it is unpredictable. Both the Minister of Education and local functionaries come up with new reports and demand them immediately on any day, within a few days or even hours. At the same time, the teacher’s salary, no matter what they say from high stands. That’s why everyone gets one and a half or two wages! Thirdly, the very profession of a teacher in society, through the efforts of the state, has been reduced to the status of service personnel. Well-fed bureaucrats show that the teacher is a loser, illiterate, self-confident representatives of Rosobrnadzor make it clear that teachers are not working correctly. Who would want to try on such a reputation? That’s why the smartest, creative students of a pedagogical university often don’t go to school to work.”
There is a general groan on teacher forums: the school is based mainly on old staff who cannot and do not want to change. “Older teachers cannot leave because they will not be hired anywhere else except school. They work and hold positions that could be occupied by more promising young people. This is probably why there is no change of personnel at the school now, and nothing happens at all, unless it is Moscow. In the provinces, old teachers are simply dragging their feet until retirement.”
I remember the remark: “Such teachers meekly do extra work: at the first request they go to demonstrations, rallies, sit in elections, are the first to run to sweep the territory, and only for this should they be considered mentors of the young? - writes Natalya K. from Orenburg. – In fact, they don’t know anything other than the textbook, the methods of education are “like Makarenko’s”: “sit down, don’t get upset!” With parents - to school” and all sorts of things that cause children to associate with cane discipline, and often turn them away from the subject. After one such “grandmother”, I came to teach English to the ninth grade - not everyone even knew the alphabet. In response to my bewilderment, the students replied that the previous teacher used to teach work and told me for half a lesson that in the future it would be more important to be able to work with your hands, not with your tongue.”
Nobody says that everyone needs to be fired and young people recruited. No, the masters must be retained; they must monitor the work, preserve traditions and regulate difficult relationships with the team and parents. But if the school paid more, more young people would be willing to go there.
This is just horror, horror and horror. Even a real vocation, if it is paid in the amount of the minimum wage, is not capable of keeping a young creator in school.
I left school because of my low salary, mathematics teacher G. admits on VKontakte. “In principle, you can put up with everything else.” But I can’t live on 15 thousand, it’s difficult for me. And you also have to support your family. Now I work as a manager in a construction company. The work is not so interesting, but brings in three times more money. What will happen if all teachers suddenly go into business, as Dmitry Medvedev advised? Who will teach children? I do not believe that the work of a teacher is less responsible than the work of a prime minister or president. We are raising a new generation! Perhaps this whole strange situation in the field of education will change when old teachers simply retire due to age. Then the question will arise of how to attract young professionals to the school. We’ll have to improve the system and raise wages.”
“In my understanding, a teacher is a calling,” responds a colleague, in whose life, as he admits, the financial issue is not an acute one. - You know what you are getting into, because everything rests on sheer enthusiasm. If you want to earn a lot of money and hold an important position, then school is still not the place to do it. In the end, you can do tutoring at the same time. They pay well for this."
In Moscow or a large regional city - yes, tutors really get paid, and in private lessons you can double or triple the salary. In the outback, a teacher will be killed if he undertakes to teach a student for a fee. Everyone is literate: according to our constitution, we have free education and teachers are simply obliged to be unmercenary, conduct additional classes and spend hours hammering into the underdog everything he listened to in class.
“Who will you take money from in our Dimitrov? – asks a primary school teacher. – Ten thousand people, not a single working enterprise, terrible poverty. It turns out that the school is the richest if teachers act as sponsors for their students. Before every first of September, we dump one on the uniform, then the other on the briefcase. For a whole year they knocked out free milk for children, which, it seems, they were entitled to “ United Russia" Knocked out. Now teachers account for every glass, and if the debit and credit do not match, it’s a whole scandal. We agreed among ourselves that we would not give water to the teachers’ children; let the milk go to those who needed it most. I have two children of my own, it’s a shame what they wear and what they eat, but with our eight thousand and my husband’s 12,000, which he gets for one and a half times the rate, we can’t afford anything. We live in a walk-through room with our parents. If we had at least thirty thousand between us, we would take out a mortgage and move out. But this is impossible.”
Part-time work for a teacher, especially a rural one, is a fantasy phenomenon, as is unanimously confirmed online. However, the same as payments under the May presidential decrees. In Moscow and other cities, such as Tyumen, wages have increased; they write from Siberia that before the March elections, once or twice “they threw in 5-10 thousand and fell silent.” In the Central Federal District, where one region is poorer than another, local budgets did not contain even a ruble to support teachers. “Another negative moment was when Crimea became ours, and 20% of our salary was written off one-time. It was sad,” recalls the Facebook user. Two thousand likes under his post indicate that he was not the only one sad. But a teacher is a very disciplined profession, because everyone knows: getting into trouble is as easy as letting a student down - he said the wrong thing, nodded in the wrong place, jumped at the wrong place.
“Our director’s favorite expression is “Moscow school,” Anna, a teacher from Lyubertsy, describes the school kitchen. “We’re actually not the capital, but its underbelly, but for the headmistress who knew better times, everything is one. So, “Moscow school” means that in every secondary educational institution their own rules and requirements. Even if you are going to organize a party inside the class, you need to submit a request in writing. If the director approves the celebration, you hold it, if not, then no. For every reason, you must ask permission and notify someone in writing. This was a shock to me, because in regional schools everything is much simpler.
Parents also add fuel to the fire. I have never seen such an attitude towards teachers as in Moscow anywhere else. In my old school, where I worked, there was one meticulous mother for the whole class, but here everyone is with complaints: “Darling, you were hired, take the trouble to explain why your son got a C. Before you, he always had an A.” The teacher is forced to live in some kind of situation of attack. At any moment, one of the parents can call you, yell at you, demand something, blame you, and so on. They are not like that... The school itself. provokes a disdainful pattern of behavior towards the teacher. Our headmistress warns from the very beginning: if you leave, they will find a replacement for you in a week. You have come and God forbid you make a mistake in your notebook! and when you come from college or institute, they help you, guide you, give you advice. But here, during the school year, teachers quit and new ones constantly come. junior classes there may be four different class teachers, because the young girls who come to work just can’t stand it. They are devoured, all enthusiasm is killed in them, so they run away to another school, looking for something better. In Moscow, apart from salary, there is nothing positive for a teacher.”
The girl’s salary is 120,000 rubles. “I’m ready to endure even a cannibal director for such “grandma”” - responses of this kind are not uncommon, although many put a warning emoticon that this is a joke.
“Now the teaching profession is at the lowest level of respect, it’s just some kind of service personnel,” her Siberian colleague Timofey Lapshin highlights the most painful thing from the tirade of a teacher near Moscow. – Many people like to remember: they used to bow to teachers and idolize them. But even now there are people whom the universe itself ordered to be teachers, who put the interests of pedagogy above their own, and it is not their fault that the country has turned in such a way that as soon as you say that you work as a teacher of Russian language and literature, they either begin to feel sorry for you or be considered a failure. I am 22 years old, I chose this profession deliberately. To work at school you need some kind of life goal, a basic and significant idea for you personally, otherwise it will be difficult to work. I have it: to bring life back to school, so that children laugh in class, and teachers, representatives of one of the most nerve-consuming professions, are creators, not sufferers.
“It seems to me that everything in a teacher’s work now needs to be changed,” says Olga from Samara . - Stop dragging us to useless social events, stop evaluating work not by smoothly written reports, but by how many sparkling eyes you have in the class. It is necessary to raise the teaching profession to a certain status, to show parents where their area of responsibility is and where the teachers are. Now the border has been erased. Parents relieve themselves of responsibilities and shift them to teachers. Start simply respecting the teacher, and not force him to work for pennies and endure, endure, endure. The system is the same everywhere, it is she who has dropped the prestige of the profession to an unacceptable level and it is she who is squeezing out normal people from school. You can listen to stories as much as you like about how young teachers are now encouraged and motivated, but if this were really so, there would be no need to worry about the future of the national school. And we are tearing our souls apart, crying on our forums... The government takes into account anyone’s opinion - ministers, education experts, parents, the public... No one listens to the teacher.”
In a survey of 3,110 general education teachers from 82 regions, conducted from May 9 to June 10, 2018, almost every second (48%) said that Russian schools are engaged in “patching personnel holes.”
According to research data cited by RBC, the biggest shortage of mathematics teachers in schools is stated by 44%. Another 39% noted that there are few teachers of a foreign language, 30% - Russian language and literature.
Primary school teachers (26%) and physics teachers (21%) disappeared into the top five “scarce” lists. This is followed by teachers in chemistry (15%) and history (14%). About a shortage of personnel among teachers of biology, geography, computer science and music is spoken of by 10% of respondents, technology - 9%. Another 4% each believe that there are few teachers in social studies, physical education and life safety in schools.
Overall, only 52% of schools reported that they had teachers in all subjects. 37% admitted that they lack teachers in 1-3 subjects, 8% - in 4-5 subjects, 3% - in more than 5 subjects.
Judging by experts, the personnel shortage will only increase. There is an “acute shortage” of young teachers in Russia. A average age teachers continues to rise.
According to Lyubov Dukhanina, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, such a stalemate in schools has developed due to difficult working conditions.
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“Some teachers leave school right during the school year, unable to withstand the high workload, including non-teaching, and low wages. And many admit that they dissuade young teachers from going to work at school,” RBC quotes her as saying.As Dukhanina said, teachers are often forced to teach subjects from “foreign” areas. “A history teacher starts teaching geography lessons, and a primary school teacher starts teaching middle school math,” she explained.
Meanwhile, the press service of the Ministry of Education continues to insist that in recent years, schools have “observed positive dynamics” with personnel. “The shortage of personnel in the country does not exceed 1% of vacancies for teachers in both urban and rural schools. Among the most available jobs are rural English teachers. Working as a teacher is increasingly attracting young people, and more and more prepared applicants are entering pedagogical universities, which clearly shows the quality of admission in recent years,” the ministry says.
According to Rosstat, the average salary of teachers in Russia increased from 33.3 thousand rubles in 2016 to 34.9 thousand rubles in 2017. At the end of 2017, in four regions of Russia, school teacher salaries decreased slightly, based on Rosstat data in February. In two more regions, salaries did not increase, and in 46, teachers’ earnings increased by less than 1 thousand rubles.
Let us remind you that according to a March study by the Russian Institute of National Economy and Public Administration, more than half of Russian teachers are dissatisfied with their salaries. The situation is worst in rural schools - 60% reported low wages, the situation is not much different in regional centers - 59% are dissatisfied there.
10:07 — REGNUM Head of the Education Department of the Yekaterinburg Administration Ekaterina Sibirtseva claims that the city's schools are 100% staffed with teachers. However, she noted a number of problems that still need to be resolved. Users social networks reacted violently to the official’s words, the correspondent reports.
According to Ekaterina Sibirtseva, despite staffing levels, there are vacancies for teachers in schools, as a number of teachers work under overload. At the same time, the greatest shortage is felt among primary school teachers.
“We have a huge shortage of primary school teachers; today the emphasis has shifted to primary school, a large number of first-graders. An elementary school teacher is the most scarce worker for most educational organizations today. There is a certain shortage of teachers of Russian language and literature, mathematics, and foreign languages, but we can close this quite easily. A Primary School- this is the most difficult thing" “, the publication quotes the statement of the head of the department.
“This is a problem all over the country. And not just the beginning. Teachers are running" , said one of the participants in the online forum.
Other users agree with him. They suggest that municipal officials from education departments become teachers, since all of them, as a rule, have a pedagogical education.
“My daughter’s 1st grade teacher is an 80-year-old grandmother. And all because there is no one to work..." , states another forum participant.
Also, a number of commentators agreed that teachers are really overworked.
"Last year we classroom teacher I worked for two classes (2nd and 4th grade), this is trash, how did she survive with our “stupidity” in two shifts” ,” a user wrote about problems at school.
Other forum participants suggested that the problem may be related to the low salaries of teachers.
“Our teacher also works two shifts - she teaches the 3rd and 4th grade. I haven’t seen new teachers in the junior block for a long time. Apparently they can’t survive on such a salary.” , she wrote.
She was supported by another commentator, recalling the statement of the head of government Dmitry Medvedev about teachers' salaries and what they should do if they are not satisfied with it.
“Teachers, apparently, are fulfilling Medvedev’s behests - they have gone into commerce en masse. Jokes aside, but now a person can choose where to work, until the salary situation is reconsidered, so it will be,” he noted.
A teacher from Yekaterinburg agreed with them.
“I’ve been working at school for 20 years. Salary 19,000. The incentive portion has not been paid for three years. Young people practically don’t come. Students of pedagogical universities already in practice talk about their reluctance to go to school. Who else would work for such a salary? It’s gotten to the point where it’s funny: it’s embarrassing to say that you work at a school.” , said the teacher.
Let us recall that in 2017, on September 1, 163 schools began operating in Yekaterinburg, and 149 thousand students will sit at their desks. According to government statistics, the average salary of teaching staff educational institutions general education in organizations of state and municipal forms of ownership in Sverdlovsk region for January - June 2017 amounted to 40,940 rubles.
