Teachers outline plans for future

The contract between the Teachers’ Association and the government expires on 1 October.

In its preparations for the upcoming negotiations with the government, the association is focusing on securing a higher salary for teachers.

“We want the teacher salary to match that of other groups that are similar to the teaching profession,” Jacob Eli S. Olsen, chairman of the Teachers’ Association, told the association’s news magazine, Skúlablaðið.

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The teachers also want a shorter work week.

Faroese teachers have an average of 28 teaching hours per week. In Denmark, this figure is 25.

Finland, which is widely regarded as having one of the world’s best school systems, has an average of 23 teaching hours for teachers in forms 1-5 and 18 hours for teachers in form 6 and upwards.

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Another key objective for the negotiations is class sizes.

“Our standard class size of 26 pupils is simply too high. We’re hoping to reduce this number to 20,” says Olsen.

The Teachers’ Association will also propose a separate funding system for further training for teachers to replace the current system in which this is part of the general school appropriation.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.