2024-09-11 13:55:41
Between the ages of 25 and 34, the number of those who did not have a high school diploma decreases
Over the last 10 years, the salaries of Bulgarian teachers have increased at one of the fastest rates among OECD member and candidate countries. This is a very good indicator and is part of the overall increase in the education budget – from 3 to 3.5% of GDP from 2015 to 2021. Starting salaries are not the lowest. 10 years ago, we could not have imagined that Bulgarian teachers would start with higher salaries than Greek teachers, who had the highest salaries in the EU.
This was stated by the Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Galin Tsokov, during the presentation of the data from the global survey of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development “View on Education 2024”.
Countries like Poland, Latvia are behind us. The Czech Republic is at our level. This speaks well of the policies being pursued in our country, Prof. Tsokov added. However, teachers in Turkey are ahead of us. (See graphic.)
However, it turns out that better education spending is only partially associated with better PISA educational outcomes.
Prof. Tsokov explained that for the second year Bulgaria entered the report as a candidate country for the OECD. In the framework of this report, in addition to statistical data, policies that are conducted “in the best economies and the best education systems” can be seen.
Bulgaria in the last 10 years has
the largest increase in the percentage of young teachers
If 10 years ago it was below 5%, now it is around 10%. The indirect effect is the students who are trained to be future teachers.
In recent years, there have been very important policies of the Ministry of Education and Culture to exempt the students of future teachers from the “Pedagogy of Education in…” from tuition fees. More and more enrolled in these specialties in order to then join the education system. Scholarships were awarded in the specialties “Pedagogy”, “Pedagogy of training in…” as a priority.
Teachers in Bulgaria spend less time teaching than their OECD counterparts, with the exception of pre-school education, is another of the findings of the study. In many countries, including Bulgaria,
a wave of retired teachers is expected,
the study shows. The share of teachers without acquired professional qualification “teacher” is relatively small.
The share of young people without completed secondary education in Bulgaria is decreasing. This is actually the trend in the share of 25-/34-year-olds without a completed secondary school education.
According to experts, early childhood development is important. The coverage of 4-year-olds is 86% and is lower than other OECD countries, Minister Tsokov said. However, work was being done to build new kindergartens and nurseries. According to the minister, learning from nursery school should become a concern not only for the health, but also for the personal development of the children, in order to prepare the child for the actual education after the 1st grade.
The study also takes into account the strong influence of the family environment on children’s education. 80% of people aged 25-64 in our country, who have at least one parent with a higher education, have also acquired one. In the OECD countries, this share is on average 72%. At the same time, only 5% of 25-34-year-olds with parents without secondary education have a university degree (compared to the OECD average of 19%).