Teachers of Estonia's state schools to earn more than their municipal colleagues

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education and EHL signed a collective agreement under which the minimum salary for state school teachers will rise to €2,070. Other teachers, however, will continue to receive a minimum salary that is €100 lower.

At wage negotiations held on Wednesday, the Ministry of Education and Research and the Estonian Education Personnel Union (EHL) signed a collective agreement for state schools for the first time. Under the agreement, the minimum monthly salary for state school teachers will rise to €2,070 from the start of the next school year, on September 1.

The agreement also changes how state school teachers' workloads are calculated. All job duties must fit within a 35-hour workweek. For full-time teachers, the weekly contact teaching load will generally be 21 hours in basic schools and 21 courses per year in upper secondary schools.

Mathematics and Estonian language teachers will have a lower contact teaching load of 18 hours per week or 18 courses per year, respectively.

The agreement does not affect the salaries of teachers at other schools who will continue to earn a minimum monthly salary of €1,970, €100 less than their counterparts at state schools.

Education and Research Minister Kristina Kallas (Eesti 200) said at the meeting that the ministry will request funding from the Ministry of Finance to raise the minimum salary for all teachers by 14 percent next year. That would bring the minimum salary to €2,246.

The EHL entered the negotiations seeking a 17 percent increase in the minimum salary, to €2,304. That would match the forecast national average salary for next year.

"At the same time, we understand that we must be prepared to reach a reasonable compromise and I believe the ministry's proposed minimum salary of €2,246 would at least help reduce the number of teachers leaving the profession or overworking themselves to earn a higher income," said EHL Chairman Reemo Voltri.

The next meeting on teachers' minimum salary for 2027 is scheduled for September 9 of this year.

The Estonian Education Personnel Union has also held the legal right to strike since Monday. In April, the national conciliator opened proceedings on a complaint submitted by the EHL expressing dissatisfaction with teachers' salaries this year. The EHL and the Ministry of Education and Research failed to reach an agreement during the conciliation process and on Monday the national conciliator drew up a protocol recording the parties' disagreement.