Podkrepa's Education union is starting to check how ready teachers are to strike or protest, the union said. It says it is unclear what the 2027 budget will be.

The check is being made in case teachers' pay and education funding are not raised.

The union, led by Dr Yulian Petrov, has published an analysis called "Teachers in Europe and Bulgaria". Denmark (€74,086), Iceland (€73,752) and Ireland (€69,747) top the 2026 ranking of average gross yearly teacher pay.

Bulgaria is among the lowest, along with Slovakia (€22,936), Romania (€20,805), Latvia (€20,516), Greece (€18,746) and Turkey (€18,669). Ministry of Education data show that since 1 January 2026 the average gross pay of teachers in Bulgaria has been about €1,565 a month, or €18,786 a year.

From the same date, the minimum basic gross pay is €1,144.05 a month for a teacher, €1,180.01 for a senior teacher and €1,225.64 for a chief teacher. A primary school teacher gets at least €13,728.60 a year, not counting extra pay for years of service, class teacher duties, qualification level, mentoring and other work.

According to the National Statistical Institute, the average gross yearly pay in Bulgaria in 2025 was €15,972.25, or €1,331.02 a month. Pay for teaching staff is about 110.2% of the national average, and in schools about 112.0%. The latest comparable data from the statistics institute and the Ministry of Education put teacher pay in 2026 below 108.0%.

The collective labour agreement sets a target of 125% of the average gross pay, and Progressive Bulgaria promised it. The union says teacher pay is far below that.

According to Eurydice, the European education network, starting pay in Luxembourg in the 2024/2025 school year was between €55,000 and €62,000 a year, and top pay between €97,000 and €109,000. The Netherlands and Germany come next, with the order depending on education level and career stage. Slovakia has the lowest top pay, between €18,000 and €22,000 a year, and Greece and Slovakia have the lowest starting pay, up to €17,000.

In 11 EU countries it takes between 31 and 40 years to reach the top of the pay scale. Only in Denmark and Finland does it take up to ten. The biggest rise from starting to top pay is expected for teachers in Cyprus, Portugal, the Netherlands and Slovenia.

The French Ministry of Education gives an average net pay for 2024 of €3,090 a month. The figure leaves out contract teachers, who make up about 8% of staff and have the lowest pay.

Between the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 school years, teacher pay in five EU countries, including France, fell in real terms. In France it fell by 0.61%. Over the past year, teachers in Romania, Slovakia, Italy and the French-speaking community of Belgium have lost ground to inflation.

Starting teacher pay is about 40% lower than that of other graduates, according to some European organisations. A 2025 OECD study shows that better pay for teachers can help improve learning results.

The union has asked the Ministry of Education to make 26 October, the day after the elections, a day with no classes and no attendance for pupils. At the moment it is a no-class day, but pupils must still attend, which the union says is extremely hard to organise when classrooms are closed because of the elections. The union wants school buildings to stop being used for voting.

The union warns: "Head teachers and teachers will have a new role as tour guides, entertainers and security guards."