According to the latest figures from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, the teaching profession in Hungary is ageing rapidly: there are hardly any young teachers entering the workforce, while the number of those over 60 is predominant in the field.
Népszava wrote about this alarming trend in the Hungarian education system, analysing new data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH). According to KSH, a total of 72,514 teachers worked in primary schools in the 2023/2024 school year, of whom only 6.7 percent were under 30 years old, i.e., young professionals starting their careers.
Hungarian education faces a shortage of professionals with few new teachers entering the workforce
As DNH reported previously, Hungary’s public education system faces a considerable shortage of pedagogues. Last year, the president of the teachers’ union warned that over the next five years, a total of 22,000 employees are expected to be missing from the workforce.
In the 2023/2024 school year, the number of educators in the system plummeted to previously unseen lows. Only 145,589 teachers worked during the last school year, 1,610 fewer than a year before.
Moreover, last year, only 2231 new graduates started working at different levels of education, a fraction of those who had started the teacher training programme in years previous. This illustrates that there is a significant fall-off in the profession.
The biggest drop in the 2023/2024 schoolyear was recorded in the number of primary school teachers, especially among the younger age groups. In the past year, there were 4,852 primary school teachers aged 30 and under. Although this is slightly higher than last year (when 4,687 teachers were under 30), this increase is well below the rise in the proportion of older age groups in the profession.
The number of primary school teachers aged 40-44 has fallen from 10,023 to 9,298, and the number of educators aged 35-39 from 7,077 to 6,416 in the same year. There was also a slight decrease in the 30-34 age group, from 3,975 to 3,894. The wave of resignations in the past year has undoubtedly played a role in this, with many in these age groups saying no to the new law on teachers’ careers, the so-called “Status Act,” and the changes it entailed for professionals, according to representatives of the sector.
Educators protest on Budapest’s Kossuth square in front of the parliament. The central sign reads: “Who will teach tomorrow?”
Photo: Pedagógusok Szakszervezete / FB
The teaching profession is an ageing sector in Hungary, with those over 60 highly overrepresented
The largest share of primary school teachers are aged 45-59, but even within this age group, most, a total of 13,744 people, fall in the 55-59 category. Comparably, there are roughly 11,500 teachers in both the 45-49 and 50-54 age ranges.
One of the most significant changes in the education system was seen in the number of older pedagogues who are close to or already over the age of retirement. The number of those aged 60-64 increased from 8,462 to 8,848, and the amount of teachers aged 64 and over rose from 1,577 to 2,171 in primary schools in one year. The latter figure represents a staggering 37.6 percent increase.
Overall, there were 11,019 full-time pedagogues aged 60 and over in primary schools last year, exactly 980 more than a year earlier and 2,189 more than in the 2021/2022 school year. This means that the proportion of older educators in the system has increased by around 24.8 percent in just two years.
One of the key reasons for this increase was the government’s simplification of the rules regulating the re-employment of retired educators in 2022 and 2023, a change that was aimed at easing the shortage of workers in the education system.
Read also:
- PHOTOS, VIDEO: Protesters demand pay rises for teachers in Budapest
- Hungarian Govt to raise nurses’ and teachers’ wages
Source: Népszava
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5 Comments
Horrendous to think, what the FUTURE holds.
It ALL comes back, to the Orban – Fidesz Governments, failings to meet promises, there use of propaganda, there excuses, the “veiling of truth” and Candour, that has been there GOAL to bring completely under there control Education in Hungary, which we know they have over Media, the Judiciary, and to Govern by Decree.
Educators make a vocation, in what they provide, that is, that through Education it offers windows of opportunities.
If Educators are not granted the “invitation” through dialogue with a Government, which has been a HUMONGOUS failing of the Orban – Fidesz of NO dialogue, they rightfully, through lack of respect and appreciation, what is PAID to them, like is the FACT in Hungary, they will MOVE on.
Never, never, never – believe it’s the Educators who are the PROBLEM(s) in the Education system in Hungary.
The Orban – Fidesz Government, they are the PROBLEM, and are totally RESPONSIBLE – the the CONDITION present on-going state, that will WORSEN, of Education in Hungary.
Successful Education, is a partnership between home, – the Family environment, the school and the Government of the day, in Hungary’s case – the Orban – Fidesz Government.
ALL parties NEED to embrace the NEED – to continuously INVEST into Education.
The Orban – Fidesz Government have FAILED dismally over 14 years in Government, to INVEST into Education.
There should exist between all parties, an atmosphere, of openness, candour of MUTUAL Trust and RESPECT.
This is NOT what is PRACTICED in Hungary – through the AGENDA undertaken, by the Orban – Fidesz Government.
It’s okay: It won’t be too long before lifelike robots and A.I. take over the teaching profession altogether. The current classroom dynamic will disappear altogether within the next 20-30 years. In the meantime, teachers, and public SERVANTS in general, need to realize that working in the public sector is done out of a sense of devotion, commitment, or even desperation, not in order to make big bucks. Working for the government must never, ever be more lucrative or secure than working for a private entity or for oneself. You become a teacher because you believe in empowering children through knowledge and skills, not to embark on a profitable career.
@michaelsteiner – this is exactly why our Politicians have decided to undercompensate health workers and teachers – banking on the fact that it is vocational and “they won´t be running away”. Well – they are. So much for turning hope into a strategy!
Re “working for the government” – our Politicians actually take pretty good care of themselves. Wages are pretty decent, they automatically indexed (inflation fully compensated, etc.), and then you are eligible for lifetime appointments to posts at so-called public interest foundations (trust funds), maybe wangle a few benefits for your friends and toadies… I believe many do LOTS better than in business or sole proprietorship!
Decision makers need to understand that teachers also need money to live a decent life. Nobody goes into teaching thinking that they are sacrificing themselves for others. They do it for the love of teaching AND to make decent bucks.
And nobody knows what will happen in 20-30 years in the educational sector. What we do know is that currently salaries are so low that less and less people want to devote themselves into a poor life of a school teacher. As Telex wrote, only those with lower grades enter now into teaching school since they couldn´t get a place to study for a decently paid profession. https://telex.hu/belfold/2024/05/22/egyetem-felsooktatas-iskola-tanarok-jelentkezes-pontszam
Sad situation in Hungary, since good teachers can empower a lot of people into success which in turn brings success and wellbeing into the whole society. Teachers without motivation do not motivate others.
Michael S, once again you are speaking out of your ass. As a former Hungarian teacher, I can tell you the devotion showed to students by my colleagues was unending. They all knew the profession would not make them rich, but sought a vocation, not just a job. If only the powerful public servants in the world(Orbán, Trump, Netanyahu, Xi, Erdogan…) showed the same commitment as teachers, doctors and nurses, we would have much better education and health care systems in Hungary, Russia, the USA…
Michael S, have you ever set foot(legally) in a Hungarian public school?
You seem to know only what you read from right wing snowflake web-monsters, or, what you’ve been programmed to spew out by some lonely schlep living in his grandma’s basement.