Teachers Contracts and Law

rockymountain

What do all you legal brains make of the following: it relates to part-time teachers and their rights to full-time work. Usually teachers are initially employed on an RPT contract and then work towards a CID (Contract of Indefinite Duration). Sometimes extra hours come up in the school in the teachers subject, should the teacher get the hours , based on the following Circular which is based on European Law, supposedly? I'd love to know more about the 'legal' aspect of what we as teachers take as gospel!!

Department Circular 0034/2009 directs management, where possible, to offer available teaching hours to part-time teachers who are not on full hours. So, if hours become available in the subjects you are qualified to teach, you should be considered for these hours. If these hours meet CID criteria and are viable, they may be added to your CID in future.

I’ve heard that if hours become available in a school they should be offered to part-time teachers already on staff – is there a requirement for management to do that?
There is a Department of Education and Skills circular that says schools should seek to increase the hours of part-time teachers where possible. Because it is covered in a Department circular, it is a requirement on the school. This is backed up by European legislation. The circular has a curricular needs caveat, but management should examine the situation carefully and make every effort to increase part-time hours when they can. If you believe hours could have been given
to you and were not, call us in Head Office.

blueythebear

rockymountain wrote: »

What do all you legal brains make of the following: it relates to part-time teachers and their rights to full-time work. Usually teachers are initially employed on an RPT contract and then work towards a CID (Contract of Indefinite Duration). Sometimes extra hours come up in the school in the teachers subject, should the teacher get the hours , based on the following Circular which is based on European Law, supposedly? I'd love to know more about the 'legal' aspect of what we as teachers take as gospel!!

Department Circular 0034/2009 directs management, where possible, to offer available teaching hours to part-time teachers who are not on full hours. So, if hours become available in the subjects you are qualified to teach, you should be considered for these hours. If these hours meet CID criteria and are viable, they may be added to your CID in future.

I’ve heard that if hours become available in a school they should be offered to part-time teachers already on staff – is there a requirement for management to do that?
There is a Department of Education and Skills circular that says schools should seek to increase the hours of part-time teachers where possible. Because it is covered in a Department circular, it is a requirement on the school. This is backed up by European legislation. The circular has a curricular needs caveat, but management should examine the situation carefully and make every effort to increase part-time hours when they can. If you believe hours could have been given
to you and were not, call us in Head Office.

What exactly is your query here? It seems that the Department of Education have issued an edict to say that where there are part-time teachers and extra hours are available, then the existing part-time teachers should be offered the extra hours first. Makes perfect sense to me.

Are you asking if there is anything you can do if you are not given these hours but feel you should have been given them?

rockymountain

blueythebear wrote: »

Are you asking if there is anything you can do if you are not given these hours but feel you should have been given them?

Yes that is what I am wondering, sorry if I was unclear. Does a part-time teacher have some claim in law if s/he is passed over and hours are advertised and given to a new appointee?

jblack

rockymountain wrote: »

Yes that is what I am wondering, sorry if I was unclear. Does a part-time teacher have some claim in law if s/he is passed over and hours are advertised and given to a new appointee?

It's a circular so the Dept. is not bound to do anything at all.

rockymountain

jblack wrote: »

It's a circular so the Dept. is not bound to do anything at all.

I know the Department is not bound to do anything, but is there is anything in employment law that backs up this Department circular, from my reading I found that it is backed up by 'European legislation.' What I'm wondering is if a teacher has a case against a school that fails to follow the circular and if anyone knows anything more about this 'European legislation.'

littlemac1980

rockymountain wrote: »

Department Circular 0034/2009 directs management, where possible, to offer available teaching hours to part-time teachers who are not on full hours. So, if hours become available in the subjects you are qualified to teach, you should be considered for these hours. If these hours meet CID criteria and are viable, they may be added to your CID in future.

While I don't know what the legal effect of such circulars is, nor what precise European Legislation there is or isn't, and how that legislation interacts with our domestic law, it would appear to me, that the particular Circular you are relying on above states that the particular part-time teacher need only be considered. This would suggest to me, that it is perfectly acceptable to advertise the position, but that the part-time teacher must be considered as one of the applicants.

rockymountain

I should probably have quoted more of the circular for clarity purposes, the circular also states that the existing part-time teacher should be considered before advertising the post. What happens where the existing part time teacher is not considered and the post is advertised? Also is it the case that European law takes precedence over our domestic law?

blueythebear

rockymountain wrote: »

I should probably have quoted more of the circular for clarity purposes, the circular also states that the existing part-time teacher should be considered before advertising the post. What happens where the existing part time teacher is not considered and the post is advertised? Also is it the case that European law takes precedence over our domestic law?

I suspect that the European Legislation referred to would be the Part Time Workers Directive, more specifically Article 3, of Council Directive 97/81/EC:

3. As far as possible, employers should give consideration to:
(a) requests by workers to transfer from full-time to part-time work that becomes available in the establishment;
(b) requests by workers to transfer from part-time to full-time work or to increase their working time should the opportunity arise;
(c) the provision of timely information on the availability of part-time and full-time positions in the establishment in order to facilitate transfers from full-time to part-time or vice versa;
(d) measures to facilitate access to part-time work at all levels of the enterprise, including skilled and managerial positions, and where appropriate, to facilitate access by part-time workers to vocational training to enhance career opportunities and occupational mobility;
(e) the provision of appropriate information to existing bodies representing workers about part-time working in the enterprise.

If you are passed over for extra hours, I would have thought that you would not be able to rely on this directive (the directive itself is aspirational in its' language and it specifically states, "as far as possible") nor would you be able to rely on the circular as it is merely a statement of policy.

However, if you feel that you have been passed over for extra working hours, your union rep might be in the best position to assist.

mari2222

the interpretation act 2005 (or thereabouts! - writing from memory!) includes a circular in the definition of "statutory instrument".

Very undemocratic in my humble opinion

Marcusm

Presumably the existing part time teacher has a legitimate expectation that the Dept circulars would be adhered to in the manageent of the taxpayer funded school and that fair procedures be adopted to ensure that they were applied. Any teacher in this position might be well advised to consult with the relevant union before taking action but if I was in this position, I would inquire into the reasons why I was not offered the hours. If the answer is that it was a mistake, I suspect the management of the school would be obliged to disregard any external applications until such time as it establishes whether suitable post holders exist within the school as the circular implies that the hours are reserved to suitably qualified internal applicants. The curriculum needs comment will provide some scope for external applications but it is not clear if it applies in the instant case.