3.4) Teacher appointments.
Regular Part-time Posts (RPT).
A Regular Part-Time Teacher is a part-time teacher who:
- Has the basic academic qualifications as for permanent wholetime teachers.
- Is timetabled for a fixed number of teaching hours per week for the full school year.
Such teachers are entitled to a Contract which may be Fixed Term, or Contract of Indefinite Duration. The terms and conditions of such contract are laid down by the Minister and are contained in Circular Letter PPT 19/03. New Regular Part-time Posts must be advertised by the Board of Management provided they fall within the authorised allocation of teachers. No Regular Part-time appointments may be made after 31st October in any given year. Appointments to such posts may be renewed from year to year provided service is satisfactory, the same curricular requirements exist and the post is within the authorised allocation. Where the school management authority proposes to renew a fixed term or a fixed purpose contract, the employee must be informed in writing of the objective grounds justifying the renewal and the failure to offer a Contract of Indefinite Duration, at the latest by the date of renewal.
Part time teachers whose appointments fall within the approved allocation but who are appointed subsequent to 31st October are entitled to the same salary and conditions as for an RPT teacher. Payment of salary for such teachers is made as for a non-casual part time teacher (see 3.7 below)
Regular Part-time teachers are obliged to sign an appropriate contract as provided for in DES Circular Letter PPT19/03. Copies of this contract should be retained by the teacher and by the school and a copy forwarded with the appropriate form of appointment to the DES. Appointments and renewals of fixed term contracts must be notified to the Department of Education and Skills each year on the appropriate form.
Regular Part-time teachers who have held a fixed term contract for four successive years have an entitlement to a Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID) unless there are previously notified objective reasons why such a contract should not be offered. The hours of work included in this Contract of Indefinite Duration must be the number of hours per week worked during the fourth year of the fixed term contract. As and from September 2009 a teacher who has a Contract of Indefinite Duration for 18 hours or more per week and agrees in writing to be timetabled up to 22 hours per week, may be timetabled and paid for 22 hours per week.
The additional hours that may be awarded to any such CID holder must come from the school’s allocation.
DES procedures for the award of a Contract of Indefinite Duration are contained in Circular Letter 0034/2009 - Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 – Amendment of C.L. 0055/2008
In the event that a teacher who is unqualified for a post, which has been duly advertised, is considered to be the only suitable candidate available, a fixed term contract may be awarded in accordance with conditions set out in DES Circular Letter 34/2009 (Section 2.5), for the duration of the school year only. Payment is made at the first point of the teachers’ incremental scale. The teacher should be informed in writing that he/she is not fully qualified and that the contract of employment is for a specified limited period after which the post will be re-advertised.
Such a post must be re-advertised with a view to employing a fully qualified teacher for the following year.
Unqualified or partly qualified teachers who were employed before 7th September 2006 may be offered a Contract of Indefinite Duration subject to the conditions set out in DES CL 56/2008 and amended in CL 33/2009.
Temporary Wholetime Posts (TWT)
A Temporary Wholetime Teacher (TWT) is a whole time teacher who is contracted for a fixed period of time. The terms and conditions associated with a PWT apply to a TWT during the period of contract.
Temporary Wholetime Posts may be advertised by the Board of Management provided they fall within the authorised allocation of teachers. The latest date on which a Temporary Wholetime Teacher may be appointed, subject to DES approval, is the date on which the school reopens after the Christmas vacation. No Temporary Wholetime Appointments may be made after that date in any given year.
Appointments to such posts may continue from year to year provided that the curricular needs of the school continue to be met, service has been satisfactory, the post is within the authorised allocation and the original appointment was made in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Community Schools Deed of Trust for the selection and appointment of teachers. (Second Schedule-Articles of Management, Section 7A) or, in the case of Comprehensive Schools, the appropriate Articles of Management.
Renewals of TWT appointments must be notified to the Department of Education and Skills each year on the appropriate form.
Temporary Wholetime Teachers must be offered Fixed Term Contracts under the same conditions as outlined above for Regular Part Time Teachers. Similarly, they have an entitlement to a Contract of Indefinite Duration following four continuous years of employment unless there are previously notified objective reasons why such a contract should not be offered.
Permanent Wholetime Posts (PWT)
A Permanent Wholetime Teacher (PWT) is a wholetime teacher who is employed on a contract of indefinite duration subject to the pay and conditions of service laid down from time to time by the Minister.
The total number of PWT and Part-time Teachers holding Contracts of Indefinite Duration in a school may not exceed 95% of the total initial teacher allocation for the school. No Permanent Wholetime Post may be advertised unless the additional post is within this limit. It is important to note that the 95% limit includes those teachers with Contracts of Indefinite Duration who may be on Career Break or other approved leave of absence. This 95% ceiling may in some instances be superseded by the awarding of CID’s where such are otherwise warranted.
Where a Permanent Wholetime Post is advertised during the school year, the Board of Management must ensure that the appointment is within the staffing allocation and must take cognisance of the possibility that the appointment may be from outside the existing teaching staff.
In a situation where a school has awarded a Contract of Indefinite Duration (CID) to a resource teacher as a consequence of Special Needs and where this CID blocks a permanent appointment in a core subject, the school may outline the circumstances and appeal this position to the Staffing Appeals Committee which is independent of the Department.