Schools still lack clarity on teacher pay and exam rules

Less than a week before the new school year begins, school principals say uncertainty remains over teacher salaries and proposed changes to ninth-grade examinations, LSM reports.

Teacher workloads have largely been planned, but some schools still cannot say how much individual teachers will be paid.

At Jura Neikena Dikļi Basic School, principal Guntis Jansons said documents were still missing from the Ministry of Education and Science, making it difficult for principals to give teachers clear information about their pay for the coming school year.

A similar situation exists at Valmiera State Gymnasium. Its principal, Artūrs Skrastiņš, said such uncertainty before the start of the school year was unfortunately not new, but could not be considered normal practice.

He said the school knew the lowest hourly rate, which could be used to calculate what it could offer teachers, but did not yet know the final salaries. Pay is particularly important when schools are trying to retain teachers or recruit new ones during a shortage of educators.

Funding is not the only unresolved issue. The ministry has proposed removing the minimum percentage threshold from ninth-grade centralised examinations from the new school year.

Jansons said the minimum threshold should be retained at least in mathematics and Latvian, as it would ensure that students completing ninth grade had basic knowledge.

The planned changes also include potentially introducing a natural sciences examination in ninth grade. Examination results would no longer be assessed when students receive their certificates.