Prague teachers’ pay barely covers rent, with a shortage looming

In five years, Prague may not have enough teachers for 33,600 children, according to the initiative “Počítá Praha s učiteli?” (“Is Prague counting on teachers?”), which brings together seven education organizations. Besides the shortage of school places, its members say, the city also faces a shortage of teachers – a topic discussed far less. By the initiative’s calculations, a starting teacher in Prague earns only half of the average Prague salary.

What the initiative demands

It includes the organizations Matika Česku, Učitel naživo, EDUin, Začni učit, Get The Point, Můžeš podnikat and SOFA. Ahead of the municipal elections, they approached the leaders of the major Prague tickets with three specific commitments: to open at least 40 new classes in secondary schools every year, to create a system of additional pay for teachers, and to bring a thousand new teachers into Prague schools within five years.

The project does not intend to end with the elections: its participants want to stay in touch with politicians and monitor progress on the goals throughout the entire term. They are ready to cooperate with the capital’s new leadership so that staff rooms do not empty out.

Where to find a thousand teachers

In the initiative’s view, new teachers can be attracted almost immediately. Some of them could be kindergarten teachers – if they are offered the right conditions: reduced hours, financial benefits, help paying for children’s groups or nannies, and priority admission of their children to kindergartens. Graduates and students should also be approached, and not only with offers of higher pay: the initiative proposes scholarships for teacher-training programs in return for working in the profession for several years, as well as transparent rules for allocating municipal housing to teachers. Great hopes are also placed on professionals from outside education, who could be drawn into teaching with relocation bonuses and wider information campaigns.

Money, as the initiative openly admits, always comes first. It recommends stable city supplements to salaries: without competitive pay, Prague will not be able to nurture future talent. Good teachers, especially in the sciences and IT, leave for the private sector. The reason is not necessarily a dislike of the profession but simple arithmetic: a starting teacher earns half of the average Prague salary and is paid the same as colleagues in other regions, even though life in the capital is noticeably more expensive.

The city’s position: no “overpaying”

The current (and, judging by the coalition talks, probably future) city councillor for education, Antonín Klecanda (STAN), warns against “overpaying” teachers in the capital. State pay scales do not legally allow Prague to raise the base salary above that of a colleague in, say, Olomouc. “So we are looking for room in personal evaluation and bonuses, but here too we are already hitting limits with young teachers on low pay grades,” says Klecanda.

He warns that if Prague starts “brutally overpaying” scarce teachers, it will do more harm than good. “Prague would suck teachers out of the schools in the ring around the capital,” he said, naming Říčany, Brandýs nad Labem-Stará Boleslav and Kladno. “Schools in the Central Bohemian Region, which are already struggling to survive, would lose their last mathematicians and physicists, and that would lead to even more children heading for secondary schools in Prague. This year Prague had 11,800 children in ninth grade, and more than 18,500 places were offered (about 13,000 of them created by Prague itself), and the pressure was still enormous. That is why pay rises must be balanced,” Klecanda explained.

Prague is nevertheless ready to raise teachers’ pay, especially in shortage subjects. According to Klecanda, the city already spends hundreds of millions of crowns a year on teachers’ salaries, and more than two billion including non-teaching staff, and will increase payments while monitoring their effectiveness. Clearer outlines may emerge in the coalition talks, but sharp turns in the approach should not be expected.

Prague will also keep attracting teachers with housing at regulated, that is reduced, rent: two hundred such apartments have been set aside for starting teachers, and the city is trying to publicize this more widely to attract young teachers from other regions. Housing, Klecanda is convinced, is the main barrier to talented teachers moving to the capital: “A young teacher from another region cannot pay market rent in Prague and cover living costs on a Prague starting salary.”

Around Prague guide on the topic: Working in Prague and Czechia

Around Prague, based on reporting by prazsky.denik.cz