NordenBladet —
The interpellators wanted to know why the education agreement had failed to be concluded.
Kallas explained that, probably for the first time in the history of Estonia, there had been such a large number of people around the table who were responsible for the provision and quality of general education in Estonia, the future generations of teachers, the salary and working conditions of teachers, the school network and all that. They had actually started to negotiate about what they should do in Estonia so that teachers are not overburdened, so that young teachers want to work in schools, so that they can sustainably ensure future generations of teachers, so that teachers are motivated, so that they get a career model that shows them the perspective of how a career can actually be made in this profession. “It was the first time that we negotiated with a large number of parties, sitting at such a large table, for nine months,” Kallas said.
She added that, even if the education agreement did not have the signatures of some local governments, the process itself had been a great lesson for all parties about how difficult it was to manage education in Estonia. “Because our field of education is divided into the spheres of responsibilities of local governments, private schools and the state,” Kallas noted.
“Despite the fact that Tallinn’s signature is not on this education agreement, starting from this school year, the city of Tallinn is implementing all the items that have been agreed upon in the education agreement,” Kallas stated. She explained that Tallinn was reducing the number of students in its class sets in order to reduce the workload of teachers. Tallinn is reducing the number of contact lessons for teachers in order to reduce the burden of teachers. “In other words, all the steps concerning the reduction of the burden of teachers about which we finally agreed upon in the education agreement are being taken today by the City of Tallinn,” Kallas said. She noted that, in fact, the education agreement was being implemented. “Despite the fact that the city of Tallinn refused to sign it for political reasons,” Kallas stated.
According to Kallas, local governments had admitted that they lacked the financial means to meet the conditions of the education agreement. “If the state gives more money, if the 2026 budget shows that there will be an increase in the differentiation fund, then they will start to fulfil the conditions of the education agreement and they will also agree to sign the education agreement on an ongoing basis after that,” Kallas explained.
“If we want to solve the problem of new generations of teachers in Estonia in the long term, we will have to switch to the form of collective agreements regarding teachers’ salaries. In other words, Estonia will have to introduce the Nordic model where teachers can have confidence about their salary agreements at least two or three years in advance, because this ensures that teacher’s profession is an option. Today we have financial agreements for one year at a time,” Kallas said. She referred to the fact that the State Budget Act did not allow the state to assume legal obligations regarding subsidies for a longer period than one year. “The teachers’ salary in the state budget is a subsidy to local governments,” Kallas admitted. She added that the funds that were to be paid to teachers at state-maintained schools through the Ministry of Education constituted the only budget item where teachers’ salary was not a subsidy. Under this item, it is allowed to legally assume obligations for a longer term than just one year.
In financial terms, the funds to manage basic schools, including teachers’ salary funds, are allocated to the revenue basis of local governments. “In such a case, the money is in the revenue base of the local governments, and in such a case, the local government representing basic school teachers, the state representing upper secondary school teachers, and private schools representing private school teachers are negotiating a collective agreement with teachers. And the teachers’ trade union is on the other side,” Kallas explained.
She expressed the hope that a large number of municipalities would actually begin to implement those agreements. “Amendments to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act will soon come to the Riigikogu, and with them, the career model for teachers will be put in place,” the Minister said.
“The career model will lay down much clearer rules on what kind of support a teacher needs at different stages of their career, what responsibilities a teacher has in the school where they work at any stage of their career, and what their salary numbers are in terms of the minimum rate when they work in different stages of their career,” the minister said.
Kallas also replied to interpellations concerning the international cooperation of the Estonian Academy of Arts (No. 677), the ending of the funding for school psychologists’ advice line 1226 (No. 683) and the merger of schools for children with special educational needs (No. 684).
Minister of Climate Yoko Alender replied to the interpellation concerning the plans to establish an offshore industrial wind farm near the island of Saaremaa (No. 680).
Minister of Regional Affairs and Agriculture Piret Hartman replied to interpellations concerning regional representatives (No. 706) and the impact on regional policy as the train company Elron was raising ticket prices (No. 708).
Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart took the floor during the open microphone.
The sitting ended at 8.31 p.m.
Verbatim record of the sitting (in Estonian)
Video recording will be available to watch later on the Riigikogu YouTube channel.
Riigikogu Press Service
Gunnar Paal
+372 631 6351, +372 5190 2837
gunnar.paal@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: The Riigikogu heard the replies to seven interpellations
Source: Parliament of Estonia