Teachers over 55 will be able to teach two fewer hours.

BarcelonaChanges to school and college teaching staff for the new academic year: teachers over 55 years of age will be able to request a reduction of two hours of class per week. As specified in the Official Journal of the Generalitat (DOGC) this Monday, teachers who benefit from this benefit will have to have reached the required age before September 1st and, for the first time, will not be required to remain at school during these hours. However, USTEC, the largest union in the sector, has expressed dissatisfaction with certain conditions of the agreement, and there is uncertainty about how all the staff who adopt the proposal will be replaced.

The reduction in class hours does not guarantee that teachers will work less time; rather, the agreement from the Department of Education stipulates that, during this time, the school or institute administration may ask the teacher to perform other tasks such as preparing materials and activities, or collaborating in the management of the school library. USTEC views this decision with disagreement: "We will find understanding administrations and others that will assign an excessive workload so that people do not take advantage of the reduction in hours," says union spokesperson Iolanda Segura.

These conditions are somewhat different from those in place before the 2010 cuts. At that time, the reduction consisted of exchanging class hours for hours of complementary school work. For this reason, the majority union in the education sector criticizes the fact that the new agreement has not eliminated the assignment of tasks, since doing so "does not entail any additional financial cost."

Furthermore, USTEC also considers it "discriminatory" that one of the requirements for eligibility is having worked for a minimum of fifteen years in public schools affiliated with the Department of Education. This leaves out of the equation teachers who have worked in state-subsidized schools for many years and have later made the transition to public schools. "Even if you have spent a short or long time in a public school, you are 55 years old physically and mentally," asserts Segura. The Secondary School Teachers' Union (aspepc-sps) has also joined this demand, calling the measure "arbitrary" and "restrictive."

Furthermore, the new reduction in hours will not be compatible with coordination or management positions at a center, and, according to USTEC, the department is claiming that it lacks the budget to send replacement staff. In turn, the spokesperson for aspepc-sps, Andreu Navarra, has stated that this clause "makes no sense," since the most senior staff tend to hold coordination or management positions: "There has been very little generosity in the distribution of this labor entitlement," he stated.

Uncertainty in organizing staff

Along these lines, both unions are concerned about how the teaching gaps of teachers who opt for reduced hours will be filled. Teachers can request this option starting today, and depending on demand, each school will notify the Administration of any unfilled hours. In this regard, Navarra believes the decision "comes late," since with four weeks left in September, management teams still cannot organize final schedules: "We are falling into improvisation, and learning is ultimately paying the price for that," he asserted. The Secondary School Teachers' Union has also demanded that the start of the school year be postponed in order to have room for maneuver in staffing.

For his part, Segura explained that substitute staff are only sent to cover at least half a day, so this reinforcement cannot always be provided to the centers: "If two people over 55 years of age take advantage of the reduction in working hours, the four remaining teaching hours will have to be replaced with staff from the same institute or school." According to the compensation table provided by the union, six teachers of the same specialty need to take the reduction for a substitute to come.

The agreement for the reduction in working hours was published this Monday in a context in which the department and the teachers are still digesting the error in the allocation of teaching positions for the next academic year.