Vol. 135 No. 12
I appreciate the Minister taking this item at this time. I raise the issue of job-sharing at primary school level. The question of job-sharing has been discussed at many different levels and fora, including the Commission on the Status of Women. It is an education issue for teachers.
I wish to share my time with Senator Honan.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
At a time when there are few job openings and limited flexibility and mobility, job-sharing allows a flexibility which would not otherwise be in the system. It is an inexpensive proposal which has worked well in many places. I am not convinced however, that it will work at primary school level.
Four years ago a thorough inquiry on job-sharing was carried out by the INTO. We got responses from 180 branches and approximately 50 per cent were in favour, approximately 50 per cent were unsure and a small number were opposed. We saw difficulties with this idea. I recall the Minister talking about this on a radio programme six months ago and I was glad somebody had made a move in response to an ASTI report. The INTO report was published four years earlier, but it was gathering dust in the Department. I know the Minister's views are favourable.
The option of job-sharing gives teachers a new flexibility. It enables those who wish to devote more time to parenting to do so and still continue the job. It allows flexibility in the area of career development and study; it is a form of career break. It gives people the opportunity to express themselves in other areas and perhaps bring new skills back into teaching. It also allows a person who cannot be fully committed to the job because of domestic, professional or health reasons, to continue working. It is an important option.
Four or five years ago I tried to convince the Department of Education that career breaks did not cost anything; they provided an outlet for people who wanted to do something else. The position is that approximatley 25 per cent of people who take career breaks do not come back to teaching. They pursue other careers and developments. Those who return to teaching bring new skills with them. When people have had the opportunity to do other things they appreciate what is good about their job, whereas before taking a break they may have been looking at it in a negative way. Job-sharing keeps in the system teachers who might be forced to resign or leave to find other opportunities. It is important that they have this opportunity.
Job-sharing should not be confused with job splitting where the employer or manager takes the initiative to create two jobs where there was one. There are many people in the trade union movement who query job-sharing because they think it is a smart device by the Government to take people off the live register. I am not looking at it from that point of view, but from a progressive one. Job-sharing allows the teacher to do the job and it gives someone else the opportunity to gain experience. There are difficulties in relation to pensions and increments, but these can be resolved. I hold the view that we should do what needs to be done and resolve the problems as we go along. I ask the Minister to give a commitment that, subject to sorting out whether difficulties are there, this could be done. This would be welcomed by teachers and would encourage them to move forward.
It is ironic that at post-primary level the matter has been more or less resolved by the Department, although we made this proposal four years ago. I also recognise that the principal management body at primary level is opposed to this measure and this has slowed down the process. My proposal would have to be agreed at management and departmental level. I do not need to remind the Minister that there are many different groups involved in management at primary level, although there is one larger than the rest. We would be prepared to do business on this issue with whoever is prepared to do business with us. It should be done on that basis because it allows movement to take place.
I hope the Minister gives teachers the important option of job-sharing which would provide other people with the opportunity to gain experience. Job-sharing would create flexibility, mobility and movement within the sector. Those are the issues from a teacher's point of view. I know Senator Honan will make a few points on another aspect.
I welcome the Minister to the House. I support Senator O'Toole's motion because greater use of flexi-time would help to remove the barriers which are obstructing women from participating in the workplace. This would enhance the position of women and men. Until now men assumed a helping rather than a sharing role in the home. If job-sharing was available to women and men teachers, it would enhance the sharing role by both partners in the home. We often talk about the difficulties for women in combining home and work responsibilities. There is a trend where men are becoming more involved in home responsibilities. I support the Senator's motion and I ask the Minister to look on it favourably.
Senator O'Toole confined his remarks on the job-sharing scheme for teachers to the primary sector. I will take this opportunity to deal with job-sharing in the whole teaching profession. I have interesting things to say. Senators may not be totally happy with my remarks but I think the House will be satisfied that some progress has been made.
The term job-sharing is generally used to describe an arrangement between two or more workers who decide on a voluntary basis to share the responsibilities of one full-time job. They share the pay and benefits between them, proportionate to the hours each works.
My Department has had a job-sharing scheme for post-primary teachers under consideration for some time. Discussions have already taken place with the three management and two union bodies at post-primary level in relation to a draft pilot scheme I hope to introduce in the 1993-94 school year. As a result of these discussions, a revised draft was circulated to the interested parties last week and a further meeting is planned within the next two weeks with a view to finalising the draft scheme.
The House will appreciate that the day-to-day running of a school is a matter for the school authorities. In the post primary sector, because of the number of different subjects on the curriculum and the element of choice available to pupils, timetabling is extremely important. This is one area which school authorities will have to consider in great detail before first deciding whether an application for job-sharing should be approved and then the attendance regime of the teachers concerned.
Introducing job-sharing in the teaching area is really entering unknown territory. We cannot be certain it will work in the classroom and Senator O'Toole acknowledged that. It is vital, therefore, that we tread warily. If agreement is reached, it is intended that a pilot scheme will operate in a limited number of secondary, vocational, community and comprehensive schools for a period of two years. The scheme will have to be closely monitored and at the end of the pilot period a decision will be taken on the future.
I was surprised that my Department has received relatively few inquiries from post primary teachers regarding job-sharing. Inquiries received to date suggest that women in particular are interested in job-sharing. The career break options may not meet their requirements in many cases.
In the case of primary schools, a proposal was made in 1991 by two teachers in a special national school in Dublin for a job-sharing arrangement. This proposal had the approval of the board of management of the school concerned and the support of the INTO. The arrangement was not proceeded with as one of the teachers involved took up a post in another national school. The teacher involved may not be sorry but I am sorry we have not that experience to build on when we move forward.
The proposal submitted at that time was examined by my Department and a number of practical difficulties were identified. These mainly related to the fact that a primary school class is usually in the sole charge of a single class teacher for all subjects. Without very careful management, sharing a class between two teachers could have disruptive effects on the education of the children. The question of the introduction of job-sharing was also raised by my Department with management interests. It was the view of the management that job-sharing might not be beneficial for the pupils and, for this reason, they did not favour its introduction.
My Department would be prepared to re-examine the question of job-sharing in national schools on receiving a formal proposal from the INTO. I would look favourably on the possibility of establishing a pilot scheme. As Senator Honan said, it is an area that is of particular interest to women. It also may give fathers a chance to take on a more parental role than they have hitherto. I look forward to the Senator's formal proposal.
The Seanad adjourned at 4.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 7 April 1993.
