Croke Park details

fairy1

Hi everyone, Friday has finally rolled around thank crunchie

I was just wondering if anyone could fill me in a bit on the whole Croke Park agreement.

I have recently secured a job ( 12 hrs 40 mins a week) as a business teacher covering Maternity leave until 31st May next year. What would be expected of me with regard to the agreement in terms of attendance at meetings etc?

I qualified as a teacher in 2010 and have been working as a substitute until now so I am on the old pay scale terms.

Any advice or info would be appreciated,

Thanks, fairy

doc_17

so you're on 13 hrs?So that means, in theory, you have to do 13/22 of the croke park hours pro rata

fairy1

So what does that mean exactly? Excuse my ignorance and is it up to me which meetings I attend etc? Do I need to submit something to say I attended or how (if at all) do they keep track of how people meet their commitments?

spurious

fairy1 wrote: »

So what does that mean exactly? Excuse my ignorance and is it up to me which meetings I attend etc? Do I need to submit something to say I attended or how (if at all) do they keep track of how people meet their commitments?

In our place we have a sign-in sheet at everything.
That said, i don't know what they could actually do if I just didn't turn up to any more. Mention it to me, maybe, but what else? I don't know.

Chris68

You attend meetings pro-rata but you dont choose which ones. I was told before (when I was part-time) that part-timers must have a 1-2-1 meeting with the principal where the principal tells you which meetings you should attend. You can argue to attend different ones but the decision is the principals.

fairy1

Oh right thanks for the advice :-)

So maybe my best bet would be to approach the principal & get all the meetings I am expected to attend shown to me in advance. I might ask one of my colleagues for advice before I say anything to the principal just so I know exactly where I stand and know my entitlements etc :-)

Thanks everyone who responded :-)

Juniorhurler

fairy1 wrote: »

Oh right thanks for the advice :-)

So maybe my best bet would be to approach the principal & get all the meetings I am expected to attend shown to me in advance. I might ask one of my colleagues for advice before I say anything to the principal just so I know exactly where I stand and know my entitlements etc :-)

Thanks everyone who responded :-)

The main thing in your situation is to impress this principal as he will be your most important referee for the next academic year. If I were in your shoes I would be at all the meetings as well as every other cock fight the school is involved in until the 31st may and be a reader or scribe next june if needed.

solerina

I would go into the principal and act all innocent and see what you are told to do...you should only need to attend 13/22 of the meetings but as juniorhurler has said you need the principal to think you are a total team player and are willing to go the extra yards so that you get a good reference next year !!

doc_17

Yeah principals aren't lookIng to hire the people who only look to do the bare minimum.

If you way to stay next year then go to them all. And never even mention it to anyone.

bdoo

doc_17 wrote: »

Yeah principals aren't lookIng to hire the people who only look to do the bare minimum.

If you way to stay next year then go to them all. And never even mention it to anyone.

Staffrooms are dangerous places to have private conversations. Criticism of management has a way of being reported swiftly. Even though that's not what you would be doing there are people who love to tell tales and embellish their stories. A good principal will listen then ignore but some believe all they hear.

If you do feel strongly about only doing your share you should discuss it directly with the principal.

I read somewhere recently that hourly paid teachers did not have any obligation to do croke park hours, this probably isn't the case with op.

thefasteriwalk

I'd be attending all meetings if I were you. If you're only doing 13 hours some of the hours will be reduced by not having to do certain P/T meetings - I assume you don't have every year. I was working part-time in my school from last March doing 13 hours for a teacher who had retired. I attended EVERYTHING and got involved in extra-curricular. I'm back in the school this year ahead of two more experienced teachers who had been in covering other teachers in my subject.

km79

For the sake of your own career take the advice given above and do all and say nothing. You will get your reward in the long term. Also if any Other RPT are bitching about it steer clear of those conversations !!!!

fairy1

Wow lots of info there, thanks everyone

Thanks for all of the advice.

Its not that I wanted to do the bare minimum. I just wasn't entirely sure what I should be doing and how I could go about everything properly.

I would be interested in going to as many meetings as possible and I have 1st, 2nd, 3rd and TY so I will have plenty of parent teacher meetings to attend!

I guess its good to know that maybe if something comes up and I cannot attend one of the events well then at least its not the end of the world because I would make an effort to try and go to everything else!

Oh and by the way the principal in my school is a 'she' and not 'he'... presumptions presumptions hehe

rainbowtrout

I'd generally agree with everyone else on here, but in my school an attendance sheet is sent around at each CP session. So all our hours are logged. Principal has openly said at meetings that people on part time hours only need to do the proportionate amount of hours. Given that you are not on full hours and you don't have 5th or 6th years you won't need to attend those meetings. It's also possible if you're only starting the contract now that some CP hours were done at the start of the year which you missed so even attending everything else from now until the end of the year will probably mean that you work out doing the number of hours relating to your contract.

Many schools go back a day early and get 5-6 hours out of the way that way.

Like was said in another post, you could just play dumb and ask the principal if she has a list of the CP hours that need to be done for the year, if it's not pinned in an obvious place in the staffroom. She may or may not suggest that you do your hours pro rata, you can probably gauge for yourself depending on what she says.

Boober Fraggle

If you decide to do all the hours, I would let the principal know that this is a decision you are making, rather than just turning up at all the hours. Otherwise the principal might not realise that you know that you are not required to do them all!

vamos!

I am going to everything. It is sad that part-timers, who receive less pay and new entrants who were sold down the river by CP are under pressure to volunteer free time to 'look good' in the hope of being kept on. We really do feel huge pressure to jump through hoops.

bdoo

There are people who are experienced and teaching for years with CIDs who are jumping through hoops too in an effort to keep their schools in the place they are.

I understand the plight of nqts and part time staff but it is a problem right throughout the profession that people are doing more work than they are being paid for.

I am becoming weary of people who believe that permanent staff smoke cigarettes at the back of the school while poor young teachers do all the work.

In my school we have 500 kids, 4 assistant principal posts and one programme coordinator AP. Each of us is a year head to the main years plus several other post duties any other **** that comes our way during the day.

We have four special duties posts, assistant year heads plus other necessary duties such as mock exams, book scheme, etc, stuff that is needed to run the school.

Student council, prefects, sports, musicals, and a million other things are done by all staff, new and old. The ty coordinator has no post at all, she is in the school about 7 years on 22hours. We all do extra because we have all worked hard to make the school as good as it is and we know in the long run it is harder if we don't put in the effort now.

I think we need to recognise that all teachers are working hard and are being squeezed for extra, but where the school benefits it is easy to accept. When it is nonsense rubbish tasks thats when it irks people. We had a meeting as staff in may and prioritised duties that we felt were needed and dumped the rest.

I think the school is the better of it since Sept, the work you do has a purpose

doc_17

vamos! wrote: »

I am going to everything. It is sad that part-timers, who receive less pay and new entrants who were sold down the river by CP are under pressure to volunteer free time to 'look good' in the hope of being kept on. We really do feel huge pressure to jump through hoops.

As far as I know there was no agreement in CP that new entrants would receive less pay to protect existing teachers. That was a bugetry decision later in the year that had no input from the unions. The unions are taking action against it through the courts.

It would be great to have a principal who would look after the PT staff and reassure them about which meetings they have to go to. But lots won't do that!