Israel’s young teachers are increasingly leaving the profession amid a wide gap between their salaries and those of veteran educators, according to figures released Monday by the finance ministry.
The report on the education system’s earnings comes as the Finance Ministry is locked in a dispute with Israel’s Teachers Union that threatens to block the opening of the next school year.
The Teachers’ Union dismissed the report as an attempt by the Treasury to manipulate public opinion against educators during the pay dispute.
Kobi Bar-Nathan, the Finance Ministry’s wage commissioner, said in his report that in 2021 the average monthly salary for teachers was NIS 12,423 ($3,669) and that new teachers earn an average of 29 percent less than the veterans.
The lowest decile in the education system earn NIS 8,000 a month, compared to NIS 23,000 ($6,800) a month for the most veteran teachers and administrators in the top 10 percent.
Gaps are also found in the compensation paid for taking on additional roles such as coordinators or tutors.
“To inject new spirit into the system despite the difficulties, changes must be made to teacher salaries,” Bar-Nathan wrote. “The report shows how the pay structure for teachers is based on seniority and creates too large a gap between young and veteran teachers, one of the highest in the world. The pay for young teachers in Israel is too low and it hurts the quality of education our children receive.”
Israeli teachers protest for better wages and working conditions, in Tel Aviv on May 30, 2022. At the head of the Trachers Union is Yaffa Ben-David (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
The report found a sharp jump in the number of young teachers leaving the profession in the past year, with 21% of teachers who have worked for two to five years looking for work elsewhere, up from 60% than the previous year. Among veteran teachers, the rate remained the same as in previous years.
Tel Aviv saw the largest exodus, even though the city has the highest number of teaching positions to be filled next year. The figures show that 13% of teachers in Tel Aviv left their jobs last year. In Jerusalem, the figure was 11.8% and in Haifa 11.8%.
“A great responsibility rests on our shoulders as managers of the public treasury and we must ensure that the use of public funds will make the education system the best it can be,” Bar-NatHan wrote, apparently in reference to the dispute with the teachers. union “Our commitment is to promote a good and decent settlement for students, parents, teachers and administrators.”
The education system employed 137,000 people during the last school year. Education workers’ salaries cost the state NIS 27 billion, or 6.3% of the national budget.
The Israel Teachers’ Union dismissed the report as “manipulation” and an attempt to “mislead the public”.
He said the report is “full of errors based on partial and inaccurate data”.
The union said the ministry’s report failed to note other aspects of Israel’s position compared to OECD countries, such as the number of students in each class and the number of hours spent teaching in front of a classroom.
“We suggest that the Ministry of Finance invests its energy in real promotion as well as negotiations, rather than engaging in ‘spin’ and manipulative reporting,” the union said.
The union repeated its threat to not let the next school year begin if an economic agreement is not reached for workers in the education system.
At the end of last school year, the union held a series of partial strikes that closed schools across the country.
The union is calling for new teachers to receive a starting salary of NIS 10,500 a month, and is also pushing for significant pay increases for older teachers.
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman speaks during a press conference at the offices of the Ministry of Finance in Jerusalem, ahead of a planned strike by a teachers’ union, and clarifies what the Ministry of Finance is demanding in the negotiations with the union, on May 29, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90) )
Finance Minister Avigdor Liberman has admitted that the salaries of new teachers need to rise, but he also insists on changing the way teachers take their holidays so that parents are left with fewer working days when their children are not have school
Liberman also wants to give school principals the right to raise the salaries of outstanding teachers to incentivize excellence within the profession.
The union is willing to discuss the issue of the adequacy of the vacation system, but has refused to discuss the teacher incentive program until an agreement is reached on the base salary for all teachers.
