Editorial: wires crossed again. How come?

Photo: Raigo Pajula / Scanpix

Well it’s gone haywire again, between education ministry and the schools. After teachers went on strike, the ministry vowed to prioritize their wage raise. Still, the teachers aren’t seeing any of the promised extra. Rather, new duties are being piled on.

To say nothing about the tensions, as, pursuant to the new order, it’s the headmaster who hands better pay to the best. And, with nothing much to hand out, atmosphere at work gets intense. Already, some teachers are talking of striking once more. Understandably, as the problems triggering the protests still lack a satisfactory solution.

Last week, Postimees published an opinion article by heads of trustee-boards at two good Tartu gymnasiums. Margus Oro and Meelis Luht wrote down five topics, painful till today. Firstly, year-on-year the gymnasium-level teachers’ pay will not increase, rather the opposite seems to be happening. Secondly, work accomplished by current senior teachers and teacher-methodologists has been left for headmasters to assess, and they cannot be guaranteed wage rise. 

Thirdly, teachers’ work load has significantly increased, as, in the wages, both contact lessons and class-teacher’s pay has been included, as well as student evaluation, supervision of research, preparation of study material. Fourthly: considering the aforementioned, it is to be feared that teachers will just go into give up mode. Instead of the bigger wages promised, all they got is added duties.

And fifthly: with no solution provided to pay for school support specialists – psychologists, social pedagogues, special pedagogues – lots of tension is generated in schools.

In today’s Postimees, an education ministry official answered the questions. Sufficiently or not, the readers will decide. The main thing not being how good the answers – rather: how come the wires got so crossed again?

Schoolmasters are educated above-average. The more so in a top school of Estonia. Presumably, they understand the law and can read budget lines, drawing their conclusions. Still, the ministry has succeeded in arranging information exchange with schools in a way that leaves the latter in total confusion how, and with what money, to solve the problems. If information exchange isn’t working, usually the sender is to blame. With the sender having the upper hand – as is true regarding ministry vs schools – the more so they should send clear and definite messages, before misunderstanding breeds indignation.

This week, a Hugo Treffner Gymnasium teacher Toomas Jürgenstein wrote an opinion article in Postimees, claiming this is no longer an issue of one-off pay rise: rather, it’s a matter of principle, and the lack of perspective regarding the teacher’s profession. Hopefully, it won’t take a strike this time to solve the communication problem.