Iran Implements New Teacher Ranking System, Boosting Salaries and Professional Standards
In a significant move to enhance the professional status and financial well-being of its educators, Iran’s Ministry of Education has finalized a new comprehensive teacher ranking system. Set for full implementation by October 2025, the reform represents a strategic shift towards a quality-focused evaluation process, directly linking career advancement and substantial salary increases to teacher performance.
A New Framework for Professional Growth
The newly ratified bylaw, developed by a joint working group from the Ministry of Education, the Administrative and Employment Organization, and the Planning and Budget Organization, marks an evolution from previous systems. According to Ali Farhadi, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, the framework was designed to address shortcomings in the prior regulations and has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
Key features of the system include:
- Automatic Entry-Level Rank: Newly hired teachers with a bachelor’s degree will be automatically granted the “Educational Instructor” rank.
- Path to Promotion: Teachers can apply for a higher rank after four years of service in rural areas or five years in urban areas.
- Quality-Centric Evaluation: Moving beyond a sole focus on academic credentials, the new system emphasizes the quality of a teacher’s performance in the classroom.
Comprehensive Evaluation Criteria
Teacher assessment will be conducted by a central evaluation board and will be rigorously based on four main domains of competency, each with its own subset of indicators:
- General Competence: Adherence to regulations, professional ethics, responsibility, and organizational discipline.
- Specialized Competence: Mastery of subject matter and up-to-date scientific knowledge.
- Professional Competence: Skill in employing modern teaching methods, classroom management, and effective interaction with students and parents.
- Experiential Competence: Work history, scientific research, participation in training courses, and professional achievements.
Crucially, promotion to a higher rank is contingent upon a teacher meeting the required score threshold in all four domains simultaneously.
Substantial Financial Incentives
A central pillar of the reform is the direct correlation between rank and remuneration. The implementation of the ranking system in the current Iranian year (1404) will result in the following monthly salary increases:
- Rank 1: An increase of approximately 2.94 million Tomans.
- Rank 2: An increase of approximately 3.61 million Tomans.
- Rank 3: An increase of approximately 4.29 million Tomans.
These amounts will be added to the base salary and factored into the calculation of all benefits and deductions.
Strategic Objectives and Implementation
The ranking system is a cornerstone of the Ministry of Education’s policy, designed with several strategic objectives:
- Boosting job motivation and incentivizing skill development among educators.
- Enhancing the overall quality of education through performance-based standards.
- Establishing pay equity among teachers with similar qualifications and experience across different regions.
- Retaining specialized human resources within the national education system.
The multi-stage evaluation process involves self-declaration, document review, assessment by managers and expert committees, and final rank approval. The Ministry has emphasized the importance of uniform scoring standards nationwide to prevent disparities in assessments.
With the full rollout scheduled for October 2025, this reform is positioned as a milestone in the continued effort to professionalize Iran’s educational system and improve the livelihood of its teaching workforce.
