May I ask, are elementary school teachers' salaries classified according to their diplomas? And why are there many teachers who, despite having a University degree, are still only receiving intermediate-level salaries? This question was posed by Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngan Ha from Ho Chi Minh City, seeking clarification from Thu Ky Luat on February 14, 2020.
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Regarding Ms. Ngan Ha's issue, the editorial board of THU KY LUAT responds as follows:
According to the regulation in the Joint Circular 21/2015/TTLT-BGDDT-BNV, the professional titles for elementary school teachers in public elementary schools within the national education system include:
- Elementary school teacher grade II - Code: V.07.03.07;- Elementary school teacher grade III - Code: V.07.03.08;- Elementary school teacher grade IV - Code: V.07.03.09.
According to the provisions in Chapter II of the Joint Circular 21/2015/TTLT-BGDDT-BNV, the standards for training, and fostering qualifications for the professional titles of elementary school teachers are stipulated as follows:
- Hold a bachelor's degree in elementary education or a bachelor's degree in appropriate specialized education for grade II elementary school teachers; hold an associate's degree in elementary education or an associate's degree in appropriate specialized education for grade III elementary school teachers, and hold a vocational school degree in elementary education or a vocational school degree in appropriate specialized education for grade IV elementary school teachers.- Have a level 2 foreign language proficiency according to the regulation in Circular 01/2014/TT-BGDDT or a certificate in an ethnic language for positions requiring the use of ethnic languages for both grade II and grade III elementary school teachers; have a level 1 foreign language proficiency according to Circular 01/2014/TT-BGDDT or a certificate in an ethnic language for positions requiring the use of ethnic languages for grade IV elementary school teachers.
For grade II and grade III teachers teaching foreign languages, the second foreign language proficiency must be level 2 according to Circular 01/2014/TT-BGDDT, and for grade IV elementary school teachers teaching foreign languages, the second foreign language proficiency must be level 1 as stipulated in Circular 01/2014/TT-BGDDT.
- Have a computer proficiency according to the basic information technology usage skills standard as stipulated in Circular 03/2014/TT-BTTTT.- Have a certificate of training for grade II, grade III elementary school teachers for those holding grade II and grade III positions.
According to Articles 7 and 9 of Joint Circular 21/2015/TTLT-BGDDT–BNV, the appointment to professional titles for a public employee must be based on the working position, duties, and specialized expertise being undertaken by the public employee.
The professional titles for elementary school teachers as stipulated in Joint Circular 21 are applied to the Salary Table for specialization, expertise for officials and public employees in state-owned public service providers (Table 3) issued with Decree 204/2004/ND-CP. Specifically:
- The professional title of grade II elementary school teacher is applied to the salary coefficient of public employees of category A1 (from salary coefficient 2.34 to salary coefficient 4.98);- The professional title of grade III elementary school teacher is applied to the salary coefficient of public employees of category A0 (from salary coefficient 2.10 to salary coefficient 4.89);- The professional title of grade IV elementary school teacher is applied to the salary coefficient of public employees of category B (from salary coefficient 1.86 to salary coefficient 4.06).
If someone applies for the position of grade II elementary school teacher, holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education or a bachelor's degree in appropriate specialized education, has the required foreign language and computer proficiency, and possesses a certificate of training for grade II elementary school teachers as required, then after passing the recruitment examination and being employed, they will be appointed to the professional title of grade II elementary school teacher and applied to the salary coefficient for public employees of category A1 (from salary coefficient 2.34 to salary coefficient 4.98).
If someone applies for the position of grade III elementary school teacher, holds an associate's degree in elementary education or an associate's degree in appropriate specialized education, has the required foreign language and computer proficiency, and possesses a certificate of training for grade III elementary school teachers as required, then after passing the recruitment examination and being employed, they will be appointed to the professional title of grade III elementary school teacher and applied to the salary coefficient for public employees of category A0 (from salary coefficient 2.10 to salary coefficient 4.89).
If someone applies for the position of grade IV elementary school teacher, holds a vocational school degree in elementary education or a vocational school degree in appropriate specialized education, has the required foreign language and computer proficiency as stipulated, then upon passing the recruitment examination and being employed, they will be appointed to the professional title of grade IV elementary school teacher and applied to the salary coefficient for public employees of category B (from salary coefficient 1.86 to salary coefficient 4.06).
According to the aforementioned regulations, it can be seen that a person holding a vocational school degree in education can only be recruited to the position of grade IV elementary school teacher, a person holding an associate's degree in education can be recruited to the position of either grade IV or grade III elementary school teacher, while a person holding a bachelor's degree in education can register to take the examination for the position corresponding to the professional title of grade IV, grade III, or grade II elementary school teacher.
Therefore, to determine why a person with a bachelor's degree in education, upon being recruited to be an elementary school teacher, was only ranked at the salary level for grade IV, with a salary coefficient of 1.86 applied to those holding a vocational school degree or higher, it is necessary to review the recruitment dossier to see if the applicant registered for the position corresponding to which professional title for elementary school teacher and whether the dossier contained all required diplomas and certificates for the registered position and professional title.
Nguyen Trinh
