Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
78. Deputy Marian Harkin asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to provide an update on the long-outstanding issue of regularising the terms and conditions of adult education tutors employed by education and training boards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2048/24]
View answerI am asking for an update on the agreement for a public service contract for adult education tutors. In particular, I am asking for as much information as possible on the terms and conditions that will be provided for in that contract and whether, finally, the adult education tutors will be recognised and given fair terms and conditions for the work they do.
I acknowledge that this is an issue the Deputy has championed and highlighted in this House for a long time. She has raised it on a number of occasions, including at Leaders' Questions. I acknowledge that. It is also an issue that has been dragging on for too long. I know that is very much the conviction of the adult education tutors and those who represent them. They play a central role in meeting learners' needs. The regularisation of the terms and conditions of tutors is a priority for me and my Department. Steps taken to achieve this include the provision in 2019 of access to leave schemes, paid leave and the appropriate public sector pension scheme. The majority of tutors are paid on the unqualified teacher rate and have received Building Momentum pay increases, but there is a smaller group of tutors who are paid on the self-financing rate which was originally intended to be used for self-financing and not Exchequer-funded courses. As such, this rate has not be increased under national pay agreements. Work is under way to retrospectively award Building Momentum increases to this group this year.
In terms of the final elements of the overall process, following extensive engagement by my Department, together with the Department of Education which currently has legal responsibility for the terms and conditions of all employees in the ETB sector, and working with officials in the Department of public expenditure, a proposal was issued from my Department to staff representatives last year to establish a new grade of adult educator, with a standardised pay scale aligned with the Youthreach resource person scale. At the time, this was seen as a welcome breakthrough. The proposal provides for a consistent approach across ETBs into the future. Each of the over 2,800 tutors employed across the ETBs will have the option to avail of the proposal and assimilate on to the proposed new adult educator pay scale or remain on his or her existing arrangements. The implementation of the proposal has been the subject of further negotiations with staff representatives.
The sticking point, and a legitimate issue, was around arrangements for an incremental progression, which was the outstanding issue. The unions and the ETB management have drafted a paper on the implementation process for the proposal, and I am pleased to say this has now been agreed in principle between the parties. I am also pleased to tell the Deputy that both Departments met with ETBI this week - on Tuesday, I believe - to discuss the paper. Arising from these discussions, the proposal has now been finalised between Education and Training Boards Ireland, ETBI, and the unions. I thank people for working on that. We intend to submit the final proposal to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform today and I hope we can bring this matter to a swift conclusion.
The Minister talked about a new adult educator pay scale. From speaking to adult education tutors, I know they do not want teacher contracts or contracts aligned to the terms and conditions of resource workers. They want to be recognised for the work they do. It is not better or worse; it is different. It is reasonable that any contract would reflect that difference and the actual work they do. They do the same work as further education and training and post-primary level 5 colleagues, and they want to be paid properly for their holidays, which is only reasonable. I know they are looking for clarification as to what is in the contract. I have been told that, as far as they are concerned, there is a lot of ambiguity about this. I am asking for clarification, although I know the Minister has already provided some.
Moreover, as the Minister recognised, some ETBs have not honoured the Building Momentum public pay agreement for adult tutors. They say they are waiting for a circular from the Department but such a thing does not exist. I ask the Minister to help to sort this out.
I will speak about Carlow. Adult education tutors are vital in Carlow and we have great tutors who provide an excellent service. At the moment, some of our tutors are working with the most disadvantaged and, indeed, with Ukrainian students, both young and old. It is very important that we move along with this. A 2020 Labour Court recommendation requested that the Department seeks to resolve things and place these tutors on an incremental scale. At present, they are paid hourly and they sign on during every school summer closure. I know the Minister has agreed that this must be done and he has sent costings to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform but it seems to be stuck there. I ask that we move on this. I know many of the tutors in Carlow and they are excellent. I believe we need to get this done.
I am also looking forward to seeing the Minister in Carlow soon as I know he is coming to Carlow College, St. Patrick's. I hope that happens as soon as possible.
I am looking forward to visiting Carlow College with Deputy Murnane O'Connor shortly. I thank both Deputies for raising this important issue. My understanding is that very good progress was made on agreeing the grades. I hope I did not suggest it, but this is not to suggest that the work an adult education tutor does is similar to another job. It is aligning the terms and conditions with other people working in the further education and training sector, which I think is appropriate. It is getting them into a regularised space, with a proper contract and the normal things that people would expect in any contract.
The sticking point was around the proposal in regard to an increment. The proposal was for an increment to be awarded following completion of 1,043 contact hours, rather than on the completion of 52 weeks worked. The unions contended that section 9 of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 requires that part-time and full-time adult educators receive increments after the same periods of employment regardless of the number of hours worked during that period of employment. I sought legal advice in this regard and on foot of that, we have worked very closely with ETBI and with the representative bodies of the adult education tutors. As a result, an updated proposal is now issuing to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform on the basis of that increment being awarded on the completion of 52 weeks.
That is where we are literally right now. It follows on from a meeting where there was an agreement in principle between TUI, SIPTU and the ETB sector on the implementation process on 12 January, followed by a meeting of my Department, the ETB sector and the unions on 16 January, which fell on a Tuesday. I will now submit the proposal to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and, following that, we will be straight back to the unions. I want to see this issue resolved and I know the adult education tutors really want to see it resolved. A huge of amount of work has been done in good faith by everyone. There were a couple of sticking points around implementation. The Building Momentum piece around the increases due to those tutors on SOLAS-funded programmes who are paid on self-financing rates will also be addressed as part of this process.
I am pleased to hear that this will be addressed. To clarify, to gain one increment on the pay scale, do they have to work the full academic year in terms of hours? In other parts of the public sector, one calendar year is one point on the pay scale and it is pro rata, so there is no advantage or disadvantage here. It is just being reasonable and fair. I ask the Minister to clarify that for me as I was not quite sure what he said.
The Minister mentioned pensions earlier. They are asking that all hours worked be pensionable and, again, I think that is a reasonable ask.
In the last few seconds of my speaking time, I want to recognise the very important work of the late Lorcan McNamee in making the case for adult tutors for so many years. Lorcan died just before Christmas and I want to recognise his very valuable contribution in supporting adult tutors for many years.
I join with the Deputy in sending my condolences to the family of Lorcan McNamee and I understand from Deputy Harkin’s contribution the important contribution that he made in regard to adult education tutors. May he rest in peace.
The proposal was for an increment to be awarded following the completion of 1,043 contact hours, rather than on the completion of 52 weeks worked. As I said, and for clarity, the unions contended that under section 9 of the Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001, this requires that whether someone is part-time or full-time, they would receive increments after the same period of employment regardless of the number of hours worked during that period of employment. The unions also sought confirmation that circular letter 65/2017, Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2003 - Implementation of Agreement in Respect of Tutors Employed by Education and Training Boards, will continue to apply to their members, including those who choose to assimilate and those who do not choose to assimilate.
Legal advice was sought and received from the Office of the Attorney General in regard to these matters. In light of this advice, I am now seeking approval for the award of an incremental credit to be based on the completion of the 52 weeks of work, rather than the hours. The associated cost of all tutors receiving the annual increment is, therefore, being forwarded to the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for its consideration. I would not expect that a significant amount would arise from this until approximately 2026.
I will come back to the Deputy directly on the pension issue but that sounds logical, given the Deputy's contribution.
We have a slight alteration to the schedule. There was a request to swap Questions Nos. 82 and 79 and I have agreed to that, so we will now move to Question No. 82 in the name of Deputy Colm Burke.
