Most Tatarstan teachers have been working for over 20 years

Men account for just 11% among Tatarstan teachers

International Teacher Day is annually celebrated on 5 October. The official statistics read that there were nearly 32,000 teachers in Tatarstan last year.

Traditionally women choose the profession of teacher. They held 88,4% in republican schools in the 2021/2022 academic year. So there are just 3,700 men among teachers in Tatarstan.

Almost in one three teachers in Tatarstan (30%) is a primary school teacher. It is almost 9,600 people. Another 11% teach the Russian language and literature in schools. One in ten teaches schoolchildren languages of peoples of Russia and their literature, the same number does foreign languages.

The share of math teachers in the total number of them is 8%, PE teachers — 6%, history and economics — just 5%. The other 20%, consequently, teach other subjects: physics, chemistry, biology, social sciences, geography and so on.

2,600 budding teachers taught in Tatarstan schools last year

Most Tatarstan teachers are experienced people who have taught several generations. So 61% of the total number, that’s to say, about 19,500 people, has an experience of 20 years and more.

The statistics show that the share of young teachers in Tatarstan schools starts to grow. Last year, teachers with an experience less than three years were 8,2%, it is more than 2,600 people. The teachers whose track record is from three to five years totalled approximately 1,470 (it is 4,6%). So in the last three years, more younger teachers have started working in schools in the last three years.

The teachers with an experience from 15 to 20 years accounted for 9,8% last year, or almost one in ten teachers. The share of teachers with a work experience from 5 to 10 years in the republic’s educational organisations made up 8,1%, the share of those whose experience is from 10 to 15 years was 8,3%.

The share of youngsters among Tatarstan teachers — citizens under 35 years — is 22%, in other words, it is 7,000 people. Pensioners and pre-pension age teachers totalled 21,2% last year, it is about 6,778 teachers.

The number of teachers in Kazan schools has risen just by 6% in the last decade

According to the latest data of the Kazan Education Office, more than 8,000 teachers work in city schools. 25 of them have an experience of over 50 years. For instance, one teacher Rita Nikolayeva from Gymnasium No. 9 has been working for 65 years. Nevertheless, new staff also comes to Kazan schools. 305 young teachers have started working this year.

“Staff rejuvenation has never been an end in itself. It is a natural process that happens in any sphere of life,” claimed head of the Kazan Education Office, Irek Rizvanov

Even though new specialists are hired, there is still a deficit of personnel in schools. Primary school teachers, math, Russian language and physics teachers are needed in Kazan. In the last ten years, the number of student in the city’s educational institutions has risen by 53%, the amount of teachers has just by 6%.

“The student-teacher ratio has grown in the last decade, though insignificantly. If in 2013 it was 15,9 on average, in 2020, it was 18 across the country. In Kazan, this figure is 21,4 nowadays,” said Irek Rizvanov.