In a press release, the VK noted that more than 1,000 graduates of pedagogical education programs are trained each year, and 81% of graduates enter the sector. However, 33% of new teachers leave the education sector within the first five years. The shortage of teachers is not only due to inadequate planning for teacher recruitment and the inability to train the required number of teachers, but also to other factors related to the support and provision of teachers.
The State Audit Office has concluded that the regeneration of teachers is not effectively planned. The Ministry's planning of state budget study seats is not based on qualitative and complete data on demand, but is mainly based on the number of students applying for and enrolled in pedagogical education programs in previous years. The number of specialists trained in the last six years is not sufficient in all subjects. For example, in science, geography, physics, chemistry and biology, 498 or 8% of teachers have reached retirement age and 1108 or 17% of teachers are close to retirement age, but only 180 have been trained. The number of highly sought-after special education and social education workers has fallen by 72% in the last six years.
The audit also found that data on the reasons why teachers leave their employment is not collected and analyzed.
Continuous changes in the education system, lack of teaching materials, dissatisfaction with salaries, uncertainty about the future (related to planned reforms) - are just some of the reasons why teachers surveyed in the 2023/2024 school year wanted to leave their jobs, the VK concluded.
The VK notes that the IZM has taken a number of actions to reduce the shortage of teachers in the education sector, but not all of them have been well thought out and effective. Moreover, most of the actions have only been launched for the 2023/2024 school year, which, in the SAO's assessment, are delayed given the shortage of teachers in the sector.
The VK also concluded that teachers have insufficient professional support and that the offer of competence development is only partly based on teachers' needs. Social and emotional support varies and is only partially available.
Only 47% of teachers have fully-funded health insurance provided by local authorities. In order to provide health insurance for all general education teachers in 2024, with the maximum allowable premium, around €18.2 million would be needed.
Pay and workload are important factors influencing a teacher's willingness to stay in the profession. Although the target allocation for teachers' salaries has been increasing each year, reaching €371 million in 2023, it has not ensured that the salaries of those working in the education sector have risen to at least the average public sector salary level. The average public sector salary is €1397, the average pay rate for teachers ranges from €1257 to €1780 and the average gross salary ranges from €485 to €1384.
The State Audit has made recommendations to the Education and Science Ministry to more effectively plan the regeneration of teachers and their retention in the profession.
