asked the Minister for Education if he has any intention of increasing the number of hours which secondary teachers must work per week in order to qualify for an incremental post.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Secondary Teachers' Working Week.
88.
The incremental salary rules prescribe a minimum number of hours of teaching to qualify for the payment of incremental salary. The hours of duty specified in the contract which a teacher has with the school manager are those normally required of him. So long as the minimum is not construed in any way as indicating the normal hours which a teacher should teach or engage in other school work I am prepared to allow it to stand.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary not aware that in the context of the ever-growing curriculum and the increasing numbers of pupils in secondary schools, many secondary teachers fear that the implication of the departmental circular about the recruitment of staff implies that they will be required to teach for a longer number of hours weekly than teachers have traditionally been required to teach? Does the Parliamentary Secretary not consider that, if anything, his answer would tend to exacerbate that fear?
No. The answer stated that the hours referred to were the minimum number of hours. As the Deputy is aware there is a significant number of teachers who are teaching for the minimum number of hours, or not much in excess of the minimum number. It is a principle that we cannot afford in any level of activity, in education or otherwise, to work shorter hours than may be necessary and economically feasible. With the exception of some specialised areas, such as art or some other areas where it is not feasible to provide very many hours in the curriculum, it is desirable that each teacher should work as much as possible without over-burdening his programme.
Can the Parliamentary Secretary give an assurance to secondary teachers that it is not Departmental policy to increase the teaching hours they have been working in the last number of years? That is the point of my question.
I gave that assurance in the answer.
I did not get it.