The Ministry plans to reduce the contact load of teachers
Representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Trade Union of Education Workers at the end of last week agreed on the start of negotiations on wages, and also discussed the working conditions of public school teachers, writes BNS, referring to the material of Rus.Postimees.
Since improvement of working conditions involves an increase in the number of teachers in schools, the government begins to develop a new strategy, special attention in which will be paid to natural science and accurate disciplines.
The Minister of Education and Science, Christina Kallas (Eesti 200), explained that, as part of an agreement on education, the ministry agreed that in a class of 24 students the number of contact watches with a teacher should not exceed 21 hours.
“We are now holding the opinion that in the main school this number should not be higher. If the teacher leads 24 contact hours a week in the classroom with 24 students – not to mention 28 – this leads to overload, and he simply does not have time to fulfill other important duties, such as the classroom leadership, the leadership of research and creative work, as well as preparation for classes. Therefore, we agree that in the classroom with 24 students, the contact load should be no more than 21 hours, ”said Callas.
“If there are fewer children in the class, the load may be higher, but if more, an additional teacher should work there,” the minister added.
She noted that in the framework of her full work week, the teacher performs many tasks that are not directly related to the lessons. Of the 35 working hours a week, 21 is assigned to contact classes, and the rest of the time is spent on preparing for lessons and individual feedback – so that the teacher can reach each student.
According to the minister, for teachers of the Estonian language and mathematics, the possibility of an even greater reduction in the contact load is considered.
“Pisa testing results on functional reading and mathematics showed a slight decrease in Estonia, but these are basic knowledge and skills that students must learn. We must better get to every student, and in this context we discuss a decrease in the load for these teachers. And this, in turn, means that such teachers should become more, ”explained Callas.
When asked whether there is generally an influx of new mathematics teachers, Kristina Callas replied that this question is not included in the framework of an educational agreement:
“It was a separate topic in coalition negotiations-the need to accept the so-called strategy in mathematical and STEM disciplines. How can we pay special attention to teaching natural-scientific, accurate and technological subjects in primary and secondary schools, in professional schools, but in fact in universities. This knowledge and competencies in our technologically saturated era are even more important than before. Therefore, we will begin to develop a separate strategy in the field of natural and exact sciences, which will cover such aspects as the load, the wage model and other issues. For example, the idea was discussed: if the employer takes a student of a professional school in the field of technology into practice, then the educational institution pays him practice for four months. This is a kind of paid trial period during which the student receives practical experience and, in the future, is not afraid to get a job, say, to work at the factory. ”
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