Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics - IEA

PART 2: BULGARIA
63
To assess the relative salaries in teaching and how these are changing over time, we
used the 1995 and 2001 Bulgaria Integrated Household Survey (BIHS), conducted by
BBSS Gallup International under World Bank supervision. The samples in both years
consisted of 2,500 households and were nationally representative. The 2001 survey
over-sampled 133 Roma households.
The small sample size in Bulgaria means that any conclusions drawn from our findings
are tentative. Also, the occupational category that includes teachers also includes
education managers, although the salary levels suggest that almost all in the category
were teachers. Despite these limitations, the age-earnings profiles show that, in 1995,
female teachers/managers earned more than engineers/technicians (but less than
accountants). This was not the case for males. Both female teachers/managers and male
teachers/managers lost ground to competing occupations between 1995 and 2001. This
was especially true for young males and all female teachers (see Table 15 and Figures 9
to 12).
When we translate the monetary values in Table 15, which are in current leva, into
current dollars, using the average exchange rates of 1995 and 2001, we see that although
average earnings in US dollars rose between 1995 and 2001 (Table 16), the gains for
teachers were not as large as they were for engineers/technicians. If the earnings we have
estimated for Bulgaria are reasonably accurate, we can surmise that Bulgaria will have
far greater difficulty recruiting mathematics teachers over the coming years than it did
in the 1980s and early 1990s. Either the quality of mathematics teaching in Bulgaria will
decline, or teacher salaries will have to rise.
Table 15: Bulgaria, Mean Monthly Earnings of Teachers/Managers, Engineers/Technicians, and Accountants
with University Education, by Gender, 1995 and 2001 (current Bulgarian leva)
Males with University Education, 1995 Females with University Education, 1995
Age Teachers/Managers Engineers/ Accountants Teachers/Managers Engineers/ Accountants
Technicians
Technicians
20–24 4,380
25–29 6,200 8,298 3,908 4,425
30–34 4,450 8,636 35,505 4,675 4,350 7,352
35–44 5,050 9,483 8,830 4,775 4,202 6,900
45–54 5,000 13,023 7,050 4,700 5,658 6,564
55–64 6,800 15,162
Males with University Education, 2001 Females with University Education, 2001
Age Teachers/Managers Engineers/ Accountants Teachers/Managers Engineers/ Accountants
Technicians
Technicians
20–24 230
25–29 153 300 315 175 214
30–34 153 461 527 162 183 196
35–44 226 275 215 160 211 222
45–54 268 300 300 176 267 231
55–64 172 225 270 224 235
Source: Estimated from Gallup International, Bulgaria Integrated Household Survey, 1995; Bulgaria Integrated Household
Survey, 2001 (http://www.worldbank.org/lsms/country/bg01/bg01docs.html).