Getting paid by the school you are working for

rose23

Does anybody have any experience/knowleddge about this?

I have only ever been paid by VEC or Dept of Ed. The new post I have been offered will be paid by the school. Is there any difference?
Any information would be great!

rainbowtrout

Some privately paid contracts are only for 10 months, i.e. you don't get paid for the summer. They come out of school funds, most often privately paid positions are in fee paying schools - this is what the fees are paying for among other things. I've never had a privately paid contract but from my friends who have, they have generally been paid on par with what they would be paid by Dept/VEC but school aren't obliged to do this.

rose23

Its not a fee paying school anyway! The principal was telling me that I would be paid 12 monthly instalments and it would be on par with the number of the scale I am on along with my other academic allowances so I presume I have nothing to worry about!

rainbowtrout

Well I suppose not. Getting paid for 12 months is great, your job does not come from teacher allocation though, just be aware of that.

rose23

What does that mean for me.. Sorry I just qualified in 2011 so Im not up to date with all the lingo just yet!

frozenfrozen

rose23 wrote: »

What does that mean for me.. Sorry I just qualified in 2011 so Im not up to date with all the limbo just yet!

lingo

rainbowtrout

rose23 wrote: »

What does that mean for me.. Sorry I just qualified in 2011 so Im not up to date with all the limbo just yet!

Schools are given X number of hours based on the number of students in the school. Divide that by 22 to see how many teachers you can employ, in it's simplest form.

So if a school is given 440 hours, they can employ 20 teachers full time. Of course that could be made up of 16 full time teachers and 8 teachers on half hours etc. But the hours dished out can't be more than the 440.

If you are being paid by the school, they have money coming from somewhere that they are paying you themselves out of their own funds and not from the Dept/VEC. So if your school has hours allocated as 440, and they employ 20 full time teachers, they are paying you to be teacher 21, which in turn means they can offer more subjects/keep classes sizes low etc.

It's common in fee paying schools because their students are paying a huge whack of money to attend every year, so the school use that money to pay extra teachers and keep class sizes small and offer obscure subjects or employ sports coaches in a paid capacity, teachers come in on a part time basis to teach drama (school musical) or part time to teach specific instruments for LC music/ school orchestra.

Most non fee paying schools can't afford these kind of things. So if school have no money next year due to a cut in the funds to pay you, then they could let you go. If they had a cut in allocation because of a change in pupil teacher ratio or a drop in the number of students attending the school then that would affect the contracted teachers and some of them might be let go or have a cut in hours.

Certainly not trying to put a dampener on your job, congratulations it's a competitive market out there, just be aware of the difference in your position and other staff members. You won't be treated any different on a day to day basis as regards timetabling, subjects etc, but you will have a different contract to them in that you are privately paid.

rose23

Thanks so much for the breakdown of information, thats exactly the kind of information I wanted to hear back from people.
Its very much appreciated. It makes sense alright, and its nice to understand this and be aware of it!

RealJohn

On this, I've always wondered if a job entirely paid for by the school counts towards your points on the scale or not. Not relevent to me anymore thank God but might be important to the OP and others in that situation.

rainbowtrout

RealJohn wrote: »

On this, I've always wondered if a job entirely paid for by the school counts towards your points on the scale or not. Not relevent to me anymore thank God but might be important to the OP and others in that situation.

I think I read somewhere that it does, in that the Dept will recognise it as relevant experience and will put a teacher on the equivalent point of the scale if they move back into a Dept/VEC paid job but it would probably affect pension as you wouldn't have made the contributions during that privately paid period of work.

There's probably something about it on the union websites.

Millem

I have heard various stories about being school paid. As you won't be paid by department for a year you would be considered a new entrant (I know you are on new entrant pay scale anyway as you quailified in 2011). Another thing is your pension contributions will not be paid. Obviously a job is a job in this climate but be aware school paid jobs will be the first schools will cut. I heard that a well known fee paying girls school in south Dublin let go of all there school paid teachers last year. In my school (not fee paying) school paid teachers are only paid for what they teach if they are sick they won't get paid so that is also something to look into (they don't get paid for summer hols or mid terms breaks either).

whiteandlight

I've been in a school paid post for two years. The post worked exactly like a standard Department Job, my salary scales were equivalent etc. The only difference was pension as obviously I was not paying the pension levy or paying into the department pension. There used to be a scheme in place where you could apply to join but they abolished it just before I tried to get onto it.

I left the post a year ago deliberately as it was even more insecure than an RPT contract. In addition the benefits I had were comparable to RPT teachers but the school was planning on completely altering the system this year.

Finally you can claim the credits for the salary scale after you have finished. I was granted two extra steps on the salary scale for working in the private school. However if you have never been on the department pay scales (I was) this may be different for you!

evolving_doors

AS regards pensions, you could get a PRSA and pay into one yourself, you will then get tax relief depending what rate band you pay ... i.e. pay €100 get €41 back (in tax credits)... Legally I think your school is supposed to offer you one or administer it but i suspect they havn;t a clue.. I already had one organised by myself when I started so I kept it on.

evolving_doors

Also as regards security of tenure...

maybe not under dept. CID rules, but under regular Fixed term work act 2003 you would still be entitled to a CID after 4 years of your own hours (unless they cite objective grounds i.e. post becomes redundant, no funds available,, but then again they can't give another school paid teacher your hours)..

Weather they tie increments in salary along with other Dept teachers is another thing. You're supposed to not experience 'less favourable treatment' in comparison with other employees doing the same job (i.e. dept teachers) although I think there was a CID case in 2010 where a judge said it didn;t apply anymore as it was a private arrangement between yourself and the school, basically she ripped up the parity thing and set a new precedent. Only thing though is that most schools I know haven't heard of this and still pay in tandem with Dept teachers.

If you're still round year 3 keep your head down so maybe you'll get some good hours for year 4. (Get another subject/qualification!).

Another tip is Don;t mention the word CID to the principal until you actually get to year 5 with whatever type of contract or they might start trying to cut hours for year 4 or 5 before it happens citing 'objectionable grounds'. It's easier to fight your case retrospectively if you know what I mean.

Probably doesn't mean much to you now at the mo. but 5 years can go by pretty quick.