Sociologist Proshkova explained the new criteria of the teacher remuneration system

Zoya Proshkova, a senior researcher at the Sociological Institute of the National Research Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, gave an expert assessment of the new salary criteria for teachers in Russia, which are currently being developed by the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Education of Russia.

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According to the expert, the new wage system assumes that extracurricular work and individual work with students will be taken into account in the stimulating and compensating part of the salary, which will amount to about 30%. At the same time, it is not exam preparation that is paid for, but the results of students, such as high scores on the Unified State Exam and victories in Olympiads, which causes criticism, she told Izvestia.

"Sociological research shows that teachers would prefer to have a higher guaranteed base salary of 70%. Key words characterizing teachers' attitudes toward incentive payments include "subjective," "dishonest," "corruption," "overload," and "burnout," she says.

As for multi-level regional salaries, Proshkova noted that "if incentive payments are financed from local budgets, regional imbalances will remain."

"However, a real increase in salaries can be expected due to the high basic part and the streamlining of criteria for assessing pedagogical contribution. An experiment on the new system is already being conducted in three regions, and the results will be known in a year," says the sociologist.

The specialist warned that the establishment of uniform criteria should not lead to excessive centralization, which would limit the independence of regions with different levels of funding and the needs of teachers.

She cited Moscow and Ivanovo as an example of a large difference in pay, where the average salary of teachers differs by almost three times. As a result, many teachers take additional rates, which leads to burnout and a decrease in the quality of teaching, she believes. According to Proshkova, wage reform in education is urgently needed to improve the situation and support teachers.

Read more about the new wage system in the Izvestia article

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