Teacher pay and workload in Bulgaria: Ordinance No. 4/2017

Ordinance No. 4 of 2017 on the norming and pay of labour (Наредба № 4) is the backbone of pay in pre-school and school education in Bulgaria. It ties the teaching-work norm, the opening of a workplace, the amount of the basic salary and additional pay for results into one common logic, which applies to directors, labour and payroll (ТРЗ) specialists, and education lawyers. The latest amendments make it especially topical: with State Gazette (ДВ) issue 42 of 2025 the minimum basic salaries rose by not less than 15 per cent, effective 1 March 2025, and with the amendments up to ДВ issue 27 of 2026 Annex No. 3 moved to euro, in force from 1 January 2026. This analysis sets out the current text section by section and separates the lasting structure from the latest legislative changes.

Scope and legal basis: what Ordinance No. 4/2017 regulates

The ordinance was promulgated in State Gazette (ДВ) issue 34 of 28 April 2017 and is in force from 1 January 2017. It was issued by the Minister of Education and Science and agreed with the Minister of Labour and Social Policy and the Minister of Finance. It sets the state educational standard for the norming and pay of labour in institutions of the pre-school and school education system: kindergartens, schools, centres for support for personal development, regional centres for support of the inclusive education process and specialised service units.

The structure of the ordinance consists of five sections and five annexes. Section I sets out the general provisions, Section II the teaching-work norms, Section III the conditions for opening a workplace for the positions of pedagogical specialists, Section IV the determination of salaries of staff in state and municipal institutions, and Section V the conditions and procedure for determining additional labour remuneration for results achieved at work. The content of the standard is set out exhaustively in Art. 2.

The exact legal basis for issuing the ordinance has practical importance, as it is a frequent source of mistakes in references. According to the final provisions, the ordinance was issued under Art. 22(9) in conjunction with Art. 22(2), item 18 of the Pre-school and School Education Act (ЗПУО). The substantive basis for the pay of pedagogical specialists is contained in Art. 219 ЗПУО, but it is not the basis for issuing the ordinance. This distinction matters when citing in reasons and opinions.

Each of the five annexes is referred to from a specific article of the ordinance. This link is key to navigation: to trace the applicable table, you start from the relevant article. The annexes contain the numerical values (norms, coefficients, minimum salaries and parameters of additional pay), while the articles set the rules for applying them.

Teaching-work norms (Section II)

The teaching-work norm is the mandatory minimum and maximum teaching workload of the pedagogical specialist, expressed in teaching hours. It is the starting point of the whole system, because it determines how many positions can be opened in the institution and the scope of employment of each specialist. The norms by position are set in Annex No. 1, to which Art. 4(11) refers.

When a pedagogical specialist teaches teaching hours of different length or weight, the hours are equated using the coefficients in Annex No. 2, to which Art. 8(1) refers. Equating allows different types of employment to be measured against a single norm, which matters when drawing up the weekly timetable and when reporting on meeting the norm. This analysis refers to these tables by structure, without reproducing all the numerical values, which should be checked in the text in force.

Opening a workplace for pedagogical positions (Section III)

Section III links the norm to the staffing table. A workplace for a teaching position is opened depending on the available teaching hours and the minimum teaching-work norm for the position concerned. The logic is consistent: first the volume of teaching hours is determined, then it is set against the norm, and finally full or part-time working hours are formed. This section also regulates the specific pedagogical positions: resource teacher with hours of resource support, as well as positions such as ICT coordinator (ръководител на направление ИКТ), pedagogical counsellor, psychologist, speech therapist and deputy director with a teaching-work norm.

The role of the delegated budget (делегиран бюджет) is particularly tangible with part-time working hours. The institution has funds under standards and allocates the staffing within them, so when there are too few teaching hours for a full norm, part-time working hours are formed and the pay is determined proportionally. This link between available hours, the norm and the budget is among the most frequent practical questions in staff planning.

Determining salaries (Section IV) and Annex No. 3

Section IV regulates the determination of salaries of staff in state and municipal institutions. Central is Art. 16, which ties the individual basic monthly salary to the minimum amounts in Annex No. 3. Salaries are agreed individually, but cannot be lower than the minimum for the position and career grade (кариерна степен) concerned.

The differentiation by career grade is built into Annex No. 3 itself: the minimum salary rises as the second and first career grades are acquired. This is where the link between pay and professional development appears, although career development itself is regulated in a separate act (Ordinance No. 15/2019), not in Ordinance No. 4.

Additional and differentiated pay (Section V)

Section V regulates the conditions and procedure for determining additional labour remuneration for results achieved at work (ДТВ). Central is Art. 24, which refers to Annex No. 4 (Art. 24(1), item 1) and Annex No. 5 (Art. 24(3)). ДТВ for results achieved is not an automatic supplement, but is determined on the basis of an assessment against criteria adopted in advance and set out in the institution's internal rules.

Differentiated pay presupposes discipline in documentation: the assessment criteria, the assessment procedure and the allocation of funds should be set out in the internal rules on pay (вътрешни правила за работната заплата), an act of the employer that spells out how the ordinance is applied in the institution concerned. The practical value of this section lies precisely in tying the variable part of the pay to measurable results.

Current amendments 2025 to 2026: what has changed

In 2025 and 2026 the ordinance went through two practically significant rounds of amendments. The first is the increase of the minimum basic salaries by not less than 15 per cent from 1 March 2025 (ДВ issue 42 of 2025), tied to the Addendum to the Collective Labour Agreement for the education system of 31 March 2025 and Decision No. 93 of the Council of Ministers of 28 February 2025. The second is the update of Annex No. 3 and the move to euro, reflected in the amendments up to ДВ issue 27 of 2026, in force from 1 January 2026.

The reasons for the 2025 increase can also be traced through the public consultation on the draft amendment (public consultation portal, deadline 2 May 2025), which is the primary source of the calculations. For practice it is essential to distinguish the text in force from repealed or earlier versions of the annexes: dating each amendment precisely is among the most frequent sources of mistakes in references.

Practical questions for directors and lawyers

The most frequent practical mistake is confusing Ordinance No. 4 with other similar acts. Ordinance No. 4/2017 regulates the norming and pay of labour. The status and professional development of teachers (acquiring qualifications, career development, appraisal) are regulated in a separate act, Ordinance No. 15 of 2019. The general structure and organisation of pay in budget institutions is in turn regulated by the Ordinance on the Structure and Organisation of Pay (НСОРЗ). Confusing these regimes leads to incorrect references in orders and internal rules.

For the practitioner the key is twofold: knowing the lasting logic of the ordinance (norm, workplace, salary, ДТВ) and carefully checking the text of the annexes in force in every specific case, especially after the move of the minimum salaries to euro on 1 January 2026.