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Hungarian teachers earn woefully little
The OECD has addressed the education systems of the Member States in a detailed publication, Education at a Glance 2020. Several positive and negative conclusions can be drawn from the analysis of the Hungarian education system; we are trying to present only a part of the document of more than 400 pages.
According to the organization, an average teacher earns 30 to 40 percent less than the average graduate, depending on the type of school, making the pay gap one of the largest in Hungary.
The biggest backwardness is before elementary school, with just 61% of the average graduate salary taking home in kindergartens and daycare centers. In the other areas, the situation is slightly better: teacher salaries in elementary and lower secondary schools represent 66% of the average salary of graduates, while in upper secondary schools the proportion already reaches 70%.
With the above ratio of 60-70 percent, Hungarian teachers are at the bottom of the list, according to the organization, only in the Czech Republic and the US The average salary of teachers is lower than that of other graduates.
It also appears that teachers in a few countries earn above average, perhaps surprisingly, but the ranking is topped by Costa Rica, where the average teacher earns almost one and a half times more than “simple graduates”. In Europe, Lithuania, Portugal and Germany have examples of higher than average teacher salaries.
The OECD also points out that it is a global phenomenon that the majority of spending on education is made up of teachers’ salaries, in Hungary this proportion was 73% in 2017. In higher education, this rate is lower (62% ) due to higher costs.
In Hungary, the pay gap for teachers is not only large compared to other graduates, but the difference is also the largest within the teaching profession. In other places, on average, the difference between the lowest and highest salaries of teachers is 78-80%, in Hungary it is 148-165%.
How much is that?
It can also be seen from the above that there is a large variation between teacher salaries, as they are influenced by several factors:
- age
- the grade
- the experience
- the degree of the education system
In the kindergarten and nursery system, a Hungarian teacher earns an average of $ 27,703 per year in purchasing power parity, according to OECD data, which is almost 8.4 million guilders at the current exchange rate. This is more than 36% below the OECD average. In elementary school, the average Hungarian teacher salary in purchasing power parity is $ 27,022, which is also significantly lower than the international average of almost $ 44,000. Hungarian teachers are the top earners, $ 28,631 on average in the upper grades of high schools, but internationally, the average annual salary in that category is almost $ 50,000.
It’s very difficult to get ahead in Hungary
Another really sad statement from the current OECD report for Hungarian teachers is that nowhere does it take as much work as we do to reach the highest paying category.
In Hungary, after 42 years of work, a teacher can achieve the highest salary in the lower grades of secondary school. This means that most may or may not be able to enjoy this until a few years before retirement.
Just for comparison: In Australia, New Zealand, or Scotland, the same time is 8-10 years before someone reaches the highest pay category. As in Hungary, slow progress is only in Slovakia and Spain, where the previous value is around 40 years. In the region, for example, it is 20 years in Poland, 25 years in Slovenia and 32 years in the Czech Republic.
In other words, while advancing in Hungary is very rewarding, in practice very few can take advantage of it, as when they reach the highest salary, they will retire.
Hungarian teachers are not so overwhelmed
In addition to salaries, the attractiveness of the teaching profession is greatly influenced by the overcrowding of the education system. In relation to this, the OECD has also defined several indicators, which do not show a prominent workload for Hungary as a whole.
The average annual teaching hours of an average Hungarian teacher is 1,318 hours in kindergartens and nurseries, 652 hours in lower primary and secondary schools, and 648 hours in upper grades. Only the first of them exceeds the international average, we lagged behind in the rest of the categories.
According to a previous similar report from the OECD, the reason for this is Hungarian summer holidays longer than average.
Of course, the 650 hours worked per year may seem small, it’s just the number of lessons. The international organization also notes that, in addition, teachers have many other responsibilities, from preparing lessons to improving dissertations and contacting parents. According to the survey, direct teaching represents 40% of the working time of teachers in Hungary and the international average for this indicator is 44%.
The OECD is also working on the recruitment of teachers, highlighting that in most Member States a significant proportion of teachers will reach retirement age in the coming years, while the number of school-age children is increasing in several countries. , that is, the need to make up lost work. In Hungary, the proportion of teachers under the age of 30 in primary schools is only 6%, which is half the international average. And in high schools, this rate is even lower, 3-4%.
Cover image: Getty Images
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