Ambiguous order: how many educational psychologists are missing in schools
The Ministry of Education has developed a draft order that sets out approaches to calculating the staffing of psychology teachers in Russian schools. According to the document, one psychologist must work for 300 children. This will almost double the need for such specialists, and their salaries will require from 23 billion to 30 billion rubles per year, which will have to be found by the Russian regions. However, the draft order may again remain only a recommendation document, as indicated by the key wording in its text. "Izvestia" investigated the real situation with educational psychologists and whether it would change.
What is stated in the text of the order?
The draft order of the Ministry of Education sets standards for the staffing of psychological educators in educational institutions of various levels: in preschool schools - one per 200 pupils, in schools — one per 300 pupils, and in vocational education institutions — one per 500 students. It is indicated that the standards are calculated on the basis of testing in eight regions of Russia as early as 2020.
Such an indicator should be familiar to the subjects of the Russian Federation: letters have already been sent there indicating these standards. The regional authorities were advised to take additional measures to increase the number of teaching psychologists.
The financial justification of the draft order indicates that 6.091 million people are currently educated in preschool institutions, 17.78 million children study in schools, and 3.09 million students study in colleges and technical schools. At the same time, there are 20,087 full-time psychological teachers in kindergartens, 33,366 in schools and 3,058 in vocational education institutions. Thus, based on the proposed standards, the shortage of specialists may amount to 39,408 people for all educational organizations: in preschool — 10.4 thousand, in schools — 25.9 thousand, in vocational education institutions — 3.1 thousand.
Taking into account the fact that the average salary of teachers-psychologists in all these institutions in 2025 was 47.8 thousand rubles, and inflation was 4.4%, starting in 2027, an additional 23.5 billion rubles will be needed annually for the salary of teachers—psychologists. In 2030, an amount of up to 29.2 billion rubles may be required.
""At the same time, the financial and economic justification states that the implementation of the draft order "will not require additional allocations from the federal budget," meaning that all these funds will have to be found by the regions, especially since the requirements of the document "are imperative."
Why won't the order work
However, the "imperative character", apparently, will not be so imperative at all. The fact is that this is the second version of the draft order. The first one was published back in 2023. And then the points where the standards for the number of specialists were prescribed sounded like this: "... a full-time unit of a teacher-psychologist is introduced into the staffing table based on ...".
This draft order has not been approved. The main reason turned out to be the negative conclusion of the Ministry of Economic Development, which boiled down to several points. Firstly, the introduction of mandatory rates for psychologists will require additional costs from regions and municipalities. Secondly, the Ministry referred to the fact that, according to Federal Law No. 273-FZ "On Education", psychological and pedagogical assistance should be provided only to children who are experiencing difficulties, and not to all students. Thirdly, the draft order did not take into account the possibility of creating psychological and pedagogical assistance centers instead of keeping a specialist in each institution. And, fourthly, the document, in the opinion of the agency, generally introduces excessive mandatory requirements, and hence costs.
In the new draft order, the wording was changed: it now states that "a full-time unit of a teacher-psychologist can be included in the staffing table."
We should add that between the publication of these two documents in June 2025, a letter from the Ministry of Education and Science on approximate staffing standards appeared, stating: "The position of a teacher psychologist is set at the rate of one position for every 300 students."
— The Ministry's letter is an information and methodological document, not a regulatory legal act, which was created in order to provide methodological assistance. And the approximate staffing standards attached to the letter are recommendations, the school can take them into account, but it is not obliged," Oleg Samsonov, a private lawyer in practice, explained to "Izvestia".
The Ministry's order is already a regulatory legal act, and after registration with the Ministry of Justice, it becomes generally binding. The new rules will be embedded in the documents that schools are required to comply with. "And here", as the expert said, an unexpected legal paradox arises: although the letter sounds more categorical ("it is being established"), it has no legal force, and the order will have the force of law, but it is more lenient ("it may be introduced").
— And this is the key wording that really makes the norm optional in terms of the very decision on the appointment of a position. ""It can be introduced" is a governing norm that gives the school the right to introduce the position of a teacher—psychologist, but does not oblige it to do so," the source explained to Izvestia.
If the standard remains recommendatory, the school will not have an unconditional obligation to open the required number of bids, agrees Larisa Solodilova, chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Education, co-chairman of the Council of the Ministry of Education for the protection of professional honor and dignity of teaching staff.
— The decision will depend on the founder, the financing and the wage fund. Therefore, the practical effect is possible only with financial support, training of specialists and a control mechanism. Otherwise, the standard risks remaining a guideline that many educational organizations will not be able to objectively fulfill," she warned.
"Izvestia" sent a request to the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. No response has been received at the time of publication.
It is worth noting that the draft order has one more important nuance: the document should enter into force on March 1, 2027, but the standards for kindergartens will be valid until September 1, 2032, for vocational education institutions — until September 2029, and for schools — for some reason only until September 1, 2027. that is, only six months.
How many educational psychologists are missing
According to static data on form no.OO-1, published on the website of the Ministry of Education, at the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic year in Russia there were 49.1 thousand rates of educational psychologists in public schools, of which 44.5 thousand were employed. At the same time, only 30.9 thousand people worked in positions. That is, on average, educational psychologists in the country work at 1.44 rates.
Interestingly, according to the data of the "Teacher" trade union, collected from the official portal of the Ministry of Education, 2,317 vacancies for teacher psychologists were opened in city schools, although there were 3,535 vacant positions there, according to form no. OO-1, before the start of the school year. Thus, apparently, even new vacancies are being opened at the rate of 1.5 rates per employee (in the city, educational psychologists work at 1.6 rates, in rural areas the situation is slightly better).
Even if we take into account that the rates planned in accordance with the draft order of the Ministry of Education 59 283 will be filled by employees who work at 1.5 rates, this still means that schools will need an additional 9 thousand employees.
Larisa Solodilova explained that now the rate of a teacher-psychologist is, as a rule, a 36-hour working week. However, real employment can be much higher.
— It includes not only personal consultations: These include diagnostics, preventive and remedial classes, working with classes, advising parents and teachers, participating in consultations, preparing conclusions and maintaining documentation. Therefore, the 1.4 rate indicator cannot be automatically understood as the number of consultations increased by 1.4 times — if one person is really registered for one and a half rates, his total employment can reach 54 hours a week," she told "Izvestia".
With such a workload, according to the expert, the specialist inevitably moves from systemic prevention to work only with the most acute cases. However, as the editorial interlocutor emphasized, statistical 1.4 rates sometimes do not mean the workload of a particular employee, but the ratio of staff units and the number of employed specialists — it is important not to mix these indicators.
In addition, the situation with educational psychologists is completely different from region to region. ""The highest workload for these specialists is in urban schools (information collected by Izvestia according to the "Teacher" trade union, which studied the situation in such educational institutions) — in the Republic of Kalmykia, where these employees work on average at 2.16 rates. At the same time, in the Republics of Sakha (Yakutia), Chechnya, Ingushetia, Mordovia and Kabardino-Balkaria, the amount of work does not exceed 1.1 percent.
The situation is very different from school to school. For example, in Moscow, according to estimates, the workload is 1.3, but in a number of educational organizations there are virtually no problems with teacher psychologists. Dmitry Kazakov, chairman of the "Teacher" trade union, who now works at a Moscow municipal school, said that psychologists play a very important role in his educational institution. And one specialist works there with only two or three classes.
"It would have been much harder without them," the expert told Izvestia. — At the same time, educational psychologists are indeed often extremely formal: one employee for the entire school, who, of course, does not cope and performs the nominal function of meeting the requirements. Often these are just some kind of part-time teachers.
Even the standard "one psychologist per 300 people" is, in Dmitry Kazakov's opinion, too little, and is unlikely to correct the situation in schools.
Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Presidential Academy Kristina Ivanenko, however, noted that the main functions of a school psychologist are screening and diagnosis, primary counseling, the correct transfer of complex cases to the profile level, as well as prevention and education among parents and teachers.
"A school psychologist is not a psychotherapist, and it is unnecessary and unsafe to turn him into a therapist," she stressed. — But a sufficient number of school psychologists would allow us to shift the focus from response to prevention. We are talking about the early diagnosis of maladaptation, bullying, suicidal risk, and the accompaniment of critical transitions — the first, fifth, and tenth grades, where the majority of disruptions occur.
According to the expert, a separate area is working with teachers and their burnout, which "practically no one is doing today."
The shortage of school psychologists is noticeable for three reasons: the specialist is more busy reporting than children, attention is paid only to "acute" cases — when it has already failed, and not when it was brewing, and also if one person simultaneously works with students, parents and teachers.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
