Teachers in chronically short supply as schools adapt to crisis

Russia is experiencing an acute shortage of teachers, a topic frequently covered by Gorodskiye Media. The replacement personnel demand for educators through 2030 will be 96,000 specialists, with 40,000 of those being teachers. Russian Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov reported this a year ago. For example, in primary education, there is a shortage of just over 100,000 people—there are 313,000 workers against 414,000 full-time equivalent positions. The gap between the expected and actual number of Russian language and literature teachers is twice as large. Against 202,000 full-time equivalent positions, only 124,000 people are currently working in this role in Russian schools.

There is a shortage of more than 59,000 foreign language teachers (172,000 full-time equivalent positions against 113,000 currently working educators). Schools are also short 73,000 math teachers, 37,000 history teachers, and 31,000 physical education teachers. There is a shortage of 15,000 geography teachers, 11,000 chemistry teachers, and 14,000 computer science teachers.

To prevent children from missing lessons, authorities and schools across the country are attracting graduates from pedagogical universities and colleges and redistributing the workload among existing teachers. Some are being retrained.

«Vacancies are also filled by attracting part-time teachers and those who have undergone retraining to teach related subjects, as well as workers of retirement age. To fill vacancies for elementary school teachers, double class supervision is used, where one teacher simultaneously leads two elementary classes,» the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan told our colleagues at 116.RU, who sought to understand how educators and officials themselves view the situation.

«They don«t want to be class supervisors»

Speaking with school teachers revealed that the younger generation of educators does not stay in schools long. One reason is that they do not want to take on the responsibility of a class.

«In our lyceum, for example, there are math and Russian language teachers who have more than two full-time equivalent positions (about 40 hours per week). They had to take on many hours. There are few young educators. Typically, young specialists do not stay in schools for long because they have little desire to work as class supervisors. That«s why some of our teachers have two class supervisions,» said Elena Vladimirovna, an English teacher at Lyceum No. 23 in Kazan.

She believes that compared to other schools, their staffing situation is «more or less good» thanks to the principal.

Another teacher of Russian language and literature from Kazan agreed to speak with us only on condition of anonymity and without naming her school number—to avoid problems later. According to her, their institution lacks a biology teacher, a math teacher, a physics teacher, a philologist, and is short of elementary school teachers.

«Therefore, sometimes some teachers are forced to retrain. But the worst part is that teachers now don«t want to be class supervisors,» the second interviewee confirmed.

A math teacher with 6 years of experience, who also wished to conceal his name and workplace, briefly stated that their school feels a shortage of biology and English teachers.

«Indeed, we are currently experiencing a small shortage of teachers. In our team, for example, we also have retired teachers working,» he added.

A 116.RU correspondent managed to find a teacher who has been working at a school for 51 years. Lyudmila Petrovna, 74, teaches foreign languages and loves her job.

«Problems with math teachers: they are chronically in short supply. Problems with Russian language, physics, chemistry, computer science, and technology teachers. Oddly enough, foreign language teachers are more or less fully staffed. But no one is queuing up; teachers have to be sought. The problem is that no one stays. Staff turnover is very high. And even people with decent experience change jobs at the first opportunity,» the teacher noted.

In her opinion, the cause of the staff shortage may be that school work is organized irresponsibly. She believes that teachers simply shield themselves from the difficulties of working in an educational institution. Lyudmila Petrovna added that on top of her main job, she often has to fill out various documents and complete surveys.

«The computer science teacher—by diploma—is a history teacher. He understands computers—so he teaches. Like in a village school: there one teacher teaches 4–5 subjects. That«s how it is with us now,» our interviewee said.

But among our interviewees, we also found a hero who stated that he does not feel a staff shortage. This is Pavel Shmakov, director of the «SOLNTse» school in Kazan.

According to him, due to the school«s prestige, teachers are found quickly, and only once in his practice did one teacher teach several subjects at once—several years ago during «hard times.»

How much do teachers get paid?

We looked at a job search website and noticed many vacancies in schools. In most cases, they are looking for English, math, and physics teachers. Also for technology, music, biology, Russian language and literature, chemistry, history, and social studies teachers. Furthermore, elementary school teachers and school psychologists are needed.

In regular comprehensive schools, an English teacher is offered a salary from 35,000 to 45,000 rubles (about $350–450 at current rates), a math teacher—from 40,000 rubles (about $400), a physics teacher—up to 60,000 rubles (about $600), an elementary school teacher—from 35,000 to 45,000 rubles (about $350–450). The lowest salary is offered to a music teacher—from 30,000 rubles (about $300), and the highest—to a math teacher—from 70,000 to 85,000 rubles per month (about $700–850).

What is being done about the teacher shortage?

Young specialists are being encouraged to stay in schools through bonuses. But you can judge for yourself the amounts, conditions, and how to get them.

«Young specialists are provided with additional financial incentives in the form of a monthly salary bonus of 10,000 rubles (about $100 at current rates) during the first three years of work. Special attention is paid to class supervision. Teachers receive monthly payments of 5,000 and 10,000 rubles (about $50 and $100) in organizations located in settlements with a population of less than 100,000 people. At the same time, republican payments are maintained: 550 rubles (about $5.50) per class and 80 rubles (about $0.80) per student per month,» stated the personnel policy department of the Ministry of Education.

More benefits are provided for rural educators. These include subsidies for housing and utilities, additional salary payments, and land plots. To support young specialists, there is the «Our New Teacher» grant, whose winners receive a salary bonus (up to 500 people annually).

Although the ministry acknowledges (albeit in bureaucratic language): the issue is also society«s attitude toward this profession.

«Increasing the public significance of the teaching profession is an important task for the republic,» added the Ministry of Education.

In August, the head of the republic, Rustam Minnikhanov, reprimanded the heads of cities and districts due to the shortage of teachers in schools. He called for a responsible approach to solving this problem. At that time, the republic was short 2,700 teachers.