New bonuses, leave and overtime pay. The government is preparing a breakthrough in the Teachers' Charter

• A teacher will receive overtime pay if, during that time, he or she carried out activities assigned by the school principal that took into account the needs and interests of students.
• Teachers who are less than a year away from becoming eligible for a pension will be allowed to take health leave.
• The group of teachers entitled to a compensatory benefit is to be expanded. A new jubilee award is also to be introduced.

Shorter fixed-term employment for beginner teachers, expanding the group of people entitled to compensatory payments, clarifying the regulations on overtime hours and ad hoc replacements - such proposals for changes are included in the draft amendment to the Teachers' Charter, which the government will consider on Tuesday (8 July) .

In the project, in addition to changes to the Teachers’ Charter Act, the Ministry of National Education also proposes changes to, among others, the Education System Act, the Teachers’ Compensation Benefits Act, the Education Information System Act and the Social Insurance System Act.

As stated in the justification for the project, it is a response to demands submitted, among others, by the trade union side at the meetings of the Team for Teachers’ Professional Pragmatics.

The project proposes, among other things, shortening the period of employment of a teacher with the required qualifications but without a professional advancement degree, on the basis of a fixed-term employment contract from two school years to one school year, as well as adjustments in the scope of work evaluation and professional advancement. The project also contains provisions specifying the duties of a mentor .

It was also proposed to define cases in which a teacher retains or loses the right to remuneration for assigned but unfulfilled overtime hours. As a rule, remuneration for overtime hours was due for completed hours of teaching, educational or care activities.

There are, however, exceptions to this rule. A teacher will receive compensation for overtime hours, even if they did not work them, if during that time they were working on activities assigned to them by the school principal that took into account the needs and interests of students.

It was also proposed to standardise the calculation of remuneration for overtime hours and ad hoc replacement hours for teachers at schools run by local government units and government administration bodies, as well as to change the premise for assigning overtime hours to a teacher.

The project includes provisions aimed at eliminating cases of teachers being assigned ad hoc replacements for absent teachers to carry out classes at a time when they should have been carrying out classes as part of their mandatory weekly teaching load.

This concerns situations when the school principal assigns substitutes to school library librarians and specialist teachers:

• educators,
• psychologists,
• speech therapist .

Substitutions organised in this way interfere with the basic tasks of teachers in the positions they hold, disorganise their work, and teachers to whom substitutions are assigned in this way do not receive additional remuneration for this.

The project indicates that ad hoc replacement hours cannot be carried out during the teacher's teaching, educational and care activities conducted directly with students or pupils or for their benefit, as set out in that teacher's schedule.

The amendment is to postpone the deadline for payment of remuneration components, the amount of which can only be determined on the basis of work already performed.

These components will be paid monthly or in a lump sum in arrears by the fifth day of the month following the month for which the remuneration is due.

The changes will also affect school principals and competitions for this position.

The amendment also makes it possible to extend the position of director of a school or facility for a further period without the need to hold a competition.

The amendment is also intended to enable teachers who are less than a year away from becoming eligible for a pension to take health leave for spa treatment or spa rehabilitation.

Currently, becoming eligible for early retirement prevents teachers from taking sick leave even though they do not intend to use their retirement benefits before reaching general retirement age.

The bill proposes that these changes enter into force on 1 September 2025.

According to the project, a few months later - on 1 January 2026 - the group of teachers entitled to the teacher compensatory benefit will be expanded to include teachers who were not entitled to it so far.

This is about teachers:

• public and non-public educational institutions,
• vocational training centres and industry skills centres, artistic institutions,
• pedagogical libraries,
• teacher training institutions and colleges for social service workers,
• teachers employed in district educational centers,
• teachers employed in correctional facilities and juvenile shelters.

Teachers' compensatory benefits are the equivalent of bridging pensions.

The project also proposes, among other things , changes to the regulations on pre-retirement protection, retirement severance payments and jubilee awards .

It was proposed to introduce a jubilee bonus for 45 years of work (in the amount of 400% of remuneration ) and to increase the jubilee bonus for 40 years of work (from 250 to 300% of remuneration).

In turn, from 1 September 2026, the weekly mandatory number of teaching hours for teachers of practical vocational training will be unified with the weekly mandatory number of teaching hours for teachers of theoretical vocational subjects in schools providing vocational training.

Both groups of teachers are to be subject to the same weekly mandatory number of hours of classes, i.e. 18 hours per week. Currently, the teaching load of teachers of practical vocational training is 20 hours.