Teachers from Greece are showing great interest in working in Cyprus. In the last decade (2008-2018) 10.327 secondary education teachers and 1.287 primary education teachers submitted an application for recognition of their professional qualifications in order to practice their profession in our country. The teaching profession, however, remains attractive. In recent years, in fact, it has become even more competitive. Teachers' salaries are among the highest in the EU, and the conditions under which they work are very well described.
The above is mentioned in the monitoring report of education and training of the European Commission (2019) which on the basis of the most up-to-date data (quantitative and qualitative) presents and evaluates the main recent and current policy measures in each EU Member State.
According to the report, the teaching profession in Cyprus remains attractive. Teaching attracts excellent university students and working conditions are still very good although there are specific challenges. The percentage of Cypriot teachers who believe that their profession is valued by society is the second highest percentage in the EU (43,5% vs. 17,7%). The vast majority of teachers in Cyprus say they are satisfied with their profession. More specifically, as reported in the European Commission report, about nine out of ten (91,2%) are positive about their work. The reason why teachers chose their profession is also interesting. Eight out of ten (80,1%) stated that employment security is for them "quite" to "very" an important reason for their decision.
Highly paid
The authors of the report positively characterize the results of the comparison of salaries between Cypriot teachers and their European counterparts for the former. They refer to data submitted by Cyprus in 2016 with the real salaries of teachers in primary and secondary education, which are "among the highest in the EU", while it is noted that in Cyprus the educational world needs fewer years of service to be entitled to the highest salary compared to the corresponding years required in most other EU countries.
Competition
The report also refers to the new system of teacher appointment that was implemented in 2017 (list of appointees) which is based on competitive examinations. As noted, in 2018 the new system led to the recruitment of 60 permanent and 278 substitute teachers in the school. Regarding the old - still in force - recruitment system (list of appointees), the authors of the report find that it "favors the length of service over meritocracy" as well as that "it contributed to the gradual aging of the teachers' workforce". They also point out that "in recent years, many teachers from Greece have entered Cyprus", while recording the large supply of teachers in our country.
Missed opportunity…
The report does not fail to mention teacher training, noting that new teachers are not currently receiving introductory training despite being mandatory. According to the report, this type of training was "cut" in 2013 due to financial constraints. In the past, as part of mentoring programs, new teachers were connected to more experienced teachers within the school during the first year of teaching, in addition to the evening training courses they attended. "Given the low performance of Cyprus in terms of basic skills, it seems that the absence of introductory training was a missed opportunity as a plethora of evidence proves its positive impact on the quality of teaching and student achievement," he said. The report also refers to "individual teacher training programs in general" which are taken into account in their promotions, but are not sufficiently linked to their evaluation or career choices.
Source: Citizen