The Ministry for Innovation and Technology remains open to negotiations in the interests of the development of the vocational training system. According to a new bill recently put before Parliament, teachers working in vocational training can expect to receive an average salary increase of 30 percent from July 2020, for which the government is earmarking additional annual funding of 35 billion forints (EUR 106 million). During the past few days the Ministry has also held talks about its plans with the two largest teacher interest representation organisations, the Trade Union of Teachers and the Democratic Trade Union of Teachers.
If the bill is adopted by Parliament, then based on the Austrian model vocational training will become more practical, the salaries of teachers and instructors working within the field of vocational training will increase, and students participating in vocational training will be receiving scholarships. The goal of the new legislation is to ensure that increasingly well-trained and highly skilled young people, who have knowledge that is valuable on the job market, are available to Hungarian enterprises. Accordingly, the bill will contribute to the further expansion of employment, and particularly the employment of young people. Beginning in the 2021/2021 academic year, vocational training institutions will have two types: technical college and vocational school.
The most important change with respect to teachers is that the salaries of teachers involved in vocational training will be significantly increasing, towards which the government will be earmarking additional annual funding of 35 billion forints (EUR 106 million). The salaries of the over 32 thousand teachers who work within the vocational training system will be increasing by an average of 30 percent from July 2020. In the case of the best-performing teachers, who primarily teach professional subjects, salaries may be increasing to an even greater extent. For instance, the salary of a class II professional teacher with a university degree and 10 years of professional experience could exceed 400 thousand forints gross, instead of the current 300 thousand forints. Teachers who work in vocational training institutions will no longer fall under the scope of the Public Education Act, which is tied to a rigid salary table, but under that of the Labour Code. This is what will be enabling a higher wage increase, and the establishment of a performance-based, competitive and motivating salary system. The bill guarantees that nobody will be worse off than they are currently. Teachers will also be able to retain the benefits associated with the teacher career model.
At their meeting with the teacher trade unions, Ministry representatives emphasised that the details of the framework regulations proposed in the legislative bill will be established by regulation-level ordinance following the bill’s adoption by Parliament. The Ministry is counting on the knowledge and intent to realise improvement of the sector’s advocacy organisations in the development and finalisation of these regulations.