Turkey first global law defining education profession Return to force on Monday after Parliament approved it earlier this month. The law brings new securities for teachers who will be granted in parallel with salary increases.
It’s the first time in the history of modern Turkey that teaching has been legally defined as “a career profession”, like health or safety jobs in the public sector. The biggest novelty of the law divides the career of teachers in three levels and providing additional income when each level is reached. The teachers go start the profession as “candidates” before obtaining the title of “teacher”, “expert teacher” and “head teacher” based on the progress of their career.
Teaching is among the most popular professions in the country, although wages have long been relatively low for those who work in public schools. the government endeavored to improve the financial state of teachers and new the law aims to remedy this issue.
Under the new law, teachers can apply for exams at earn the title of expert teacher if he taught for at least 10 years, including their tenure as teacher candidates, attended at least 180 hours of coaching for expert teachers and do not have history of offenses or disciplinary measures. Teachers will receive expert teacher certification if they earn a score of at least 70 points on the exam. Headteachers will be selected from among those who served at least 10 years as expert teachers. The law also allows teachers at skip exams required for their next career step if they graduated from post-diploma programs.
The law also offer a raise of up at 120% for head teachers and up at 60% for expert teachers in “education compensation», an additional payment outside of wages. The teachers are also included in regulations for other public professions in the sector, boosting both their current wages and future retreats.
