The best teachers get $1500 more in salary
The educational crisis in Sweden continues, but now Sigtuna municipality is trying to do its share to solve the problem by giving the 32 best teachers between 6-10 000 SEK ($920-1500) extra in their paychecks. That means that some of the teachers are breaking the 40 000 SEK ($6,100) salary wall. “We are finally beginning to see that teachers are being valued according to their academic merits,” says Anna Strömberg Johansson ombudsman for Lärarförbundet (the Swedish Teachers’ union) to metrojobb.se Each school director in the municipality has nominated one to three teachers from criteria such as pedagogic talent, leadership, and planning ability. The 32 teachers who were awarded, make up around 7% of all the teachers in Sigtuna. When asked if the competent teachers not given the extra money won’t feel badly treated or overlooked, Marie Axelsson, municipal representative for Lärarnas Riksförbund says: “I can understand if there’s a certain amount of jealousy, but we think this is good, you can see that it’s possible to have a career making money as a teacher.” On top of the permanent increase in salary, the 32 teachers also receive retroactive salaries from July 1st last year, when the project was supposed to first get activated.