He Teachers’ Day It is commemorated in the midst of a discouraging panorama, as a consequence of the Government’s adjustment in the education budget. The data that proves this shows that currently the teacher salaries fell to levels of two decades ago. The impact of the elimination of the National Teacher Incentive Fund (FONID) and the fiscal adjustment strategies at both the national, provincial and municipal levels, resulted in the lowering of the salaries of the workers of the education at the initial level.
One of the fundamental pillars for the development of a society is the educationwhich brings up several issues that deserve to be analyzed. On the one hand, the importance of resources for the area, with educational investment in salaries, infrastructure, training, among other issues.
The other issue to consider is the quality of teaching in the classroom. Year after year, academics, specialists and members of the educational community debate the challenges, problems and changes that impact the learning process, such as technology, social changes, the emergence of AI, social networks and access to information.
Fall in teacher salaries
As for salaries, the x-ray of the teacher salary shows that it is a bad time for the income of education workers.
According to the report made by the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy of Buenos Aires (IIEP)he Teachers’ salaries have returned to the low levels of two decades agoas a consequence of the adjustments in education carried out by the Government.
In dialogue with Scope, Javier Curcioprofessor and researcher IIEP – UBA CONICET, explained: “The impact of underfunding always has a very strong weight in terms of salaries, because 90% of the educational budget expenditure in Argentina and in other countries is due to teacher salaries“.
The data shows that the salaries of primary school teachers with a single day They charged in last march a remuneration of $502,786in constant pesos at the value of 2024.
If we take the series, In September 2003 (in pesos at the value of 2024) the gross teaching salary for the same position and task was $452,202.
Curcio He also added other data that are worrying in terms of educational investment, one of the constant complaints of the area. “The drop in the education budget is around 40% year-on-year (comparing 2023-2024). That doubles the value of the adjustment in the State that the Government has been carrying out, which was 20% in other areas,” he said. And he added: “The adjustment in universities was 30%.”
The elimination of the FONID generated a very strong blow to the detriment of the income of education workers, which “impacts the provinces’ ability to pay salaries” The specialist added. “The teacher salary at the primary level has been hit since March and has not recovered. There we observe that falls to levels of two decades ago in 2003“This decline will inevitably lead to a deterioration in the quality of education,” Curcio said.
Currently, the average primary level teacher salary for a single-day teacher is $500,000. “If we put it in constant values, it is a salary equivalent to what the teacher had in 2004,” he explained. Curcio.
The challenges of education
On the other hand, in addition to the economic issue and budgetary resources, what happens inside the classroom is key. For them Scope spoke with teacher and educational management specialist Flavio Buccino, who analyzed the challenges and problems that education workers face today.
“Education needs the logic of trust: the student’s trust in the teacher, the teacher’s trust in his students, the trust of society in the educational system, the trust of teachers in the support they will receive in that society. We are in a bad situation there, although it is a global situation, in Argentina it is difficult to address the issue of changes in the educational system” he said. Whelk as a diagnosis of the current situation.
In this regard, there are two dimensions to analyze within the classroom: that of the teacher who stands in front of the students and that of the students who receive knowledge from the teacher.
As regards the teaching role, Whelk He considered that “a career must be created within education, which allows teachers to reach a maximum rank and know that they will have a retirement that will allow them to live much better than when they started, and today that is not the case. Many people do not want to retire, fundamentally because they lose salary when they retire.”
Tired teachers in classroom.jpg
The situation described by the specialist regarding teaching in Argentina marks how the teaching career is carried out and the salary recognition for that task.He got used to talking about salaries and adjusting for inflation“Teachers earn more for two reasons: because of their seniority, that is, because they have been in the system for longer. And they also earn more because they do not choose to lead in the classroom and instead dedicate themselves to the career of holding positions as directors, principals, etc.” he explained.
As for the role of the teacher, the debate about the emergence of technology in the classroom and how this impacts teaching and learning habits and methods remains open, under the permanent idea of a change or reform that society demands but which ultimately does not materialize.
Buccino warned that today “there is a shortage of teachers in Argentina.” “Being a teacher is no longer a matter of aspiration for the lower and middle classes,” he said, an issue that is crossed by the salary question.
“Schools are not designed to keep up with rapid changes, and this often impacts teachers, who feel out of step with the historical moment they are living in. Schools have to readjust to what is happening. It is not a question of degree, it is a question of substance. For example, the use of cell phones in the classroom, where we are experiencing a complicated moment,” Buccino reflected.
This point is touched upon by the question of the resources that states invest in education.If we believe that an educational reform can be done without resources, it is impossible.There are teachers who Today they earn up to 20% less “than what they were charging in September of last year. By means of disinvestment you cannot transform anything” indicated the specialist who has more than 40 years of experience between the classroom and the academic field.
Whelk He defended the idea of change given that “the educational system must be reformulated” but always with the teacher as the main figure. To do this, it is necessary to think and rethink what model the Argentine educational system needs.
“There will always be a teacher in front of the students, in that case we must consider a new model that requires rethinking what the child needs to learn and who can teach it,” argued the specialist.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
