2024-04-11 18:03:17
LIZDA and the Ministry of Education and Culture have long had different views on balancing the workload of educators. In the opinion of the Ministry’s management, the conflict arose because of a different vision of the future work to be done. Meanwhile, from LIZDA’s point of view, the offer to some group of educators is worse than the one expressed in the teacher’s strike negotiations. The proposal to agree on load balancing for teachers with the municipality or the employer has also drawn criticism. Determining the distribution of loads at the national level was one of the demands of the strike.
LIZDA is willing to make concessions to many, but the Ministry of Interior should also take a “tactical step” back and choose a “60:40” load distribution, according to Kalvāns. According to the regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers, the distribution of the workload of teachers of general primary education and general secondary education is “65:35” – up to 65% of the workload per week for teaching lessons, but for other duties no less than 35% of the total workload per week.
LIVA supports the Ministry of Education and Culture’s offer to switch to a 40-hour week as a full-time workload for educators. Of those, the teacher would devote 24 hours to contact lessons, and leave 16 hours for other duties. Such a distribution should be used when calculating state budget funding, Kalvāns offers. On the other hand, the directors themselves would agree with the teacher if the number of contact hours should be increased.
At the same time, school directors do not agree with the idea of the Ministry of Education and Culture to determine the maximum number of hours for teachers of general education, vocational education and special education – this should remain in the director’s control. Kalvans denies that the heads of educational institutions abuse their powers. “You can’t cast a shadow over all directors. Directors also want to balance the workload,” he emphasized. The Labor Law also does not allow setting the maximum number of hours, which provides that the employee can agree on the workload with the employer.
Leaders of educational institutions do not understand why it is necessary to “convert or otherwise manipulate” the teaching or 40-minute hours and the astronomical or 60-minute hours. Kalvans calls for staying with the existing system, that a contact hour is a lesson or 40 minutes, which is equivalent to understanding a 60-minute lesson.
“The ministry wanted the new model to be simpler and more understandable, but now we are terribly confused,” Kalvāns assesses.
He points out that it is not entirely clear whether the Ministry of Education and Culture agrees to calculate the budget for two full-time preschool teachers.
It was previously reported that the Ministry of Education and Culture hopes to approve the new principles of balancing teachers’ workloads in the government by next year. Currently, the Ministry of the Interior is waiting for proposals from the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Interior, after which the amendments will be submitted for public consultation. Meanwhile, LIZDA has already announced that it will not agree with the Ministry of Interior’s offer.
Kalvans predicts that enough proposals will be presented during the coordination, and the Ministry of the Interior will have to choose which ones to take into account. If the social partners do not agree on the Ministry of Interior’s offer, it will be the government’s political decision whether to move forward in spite of it, said the president of LIVA.
The cooperation partners are currently waiting for the calculations of the new model. If the Ministry of Interior gives in, “the train will move and leave,” assured Kalvans.
LETA already announced that LIZDA and the Ministry of Interior had to agree on the load balancing model already in May of last year.
2024-04-11 18:03:17