Work not ox: teachers ask to pay overtime as overtime labor

The "Teacher" trade union has proposed to introduce the concept of "overtime work" into the regulation of the working hours of pedagogical workers. Its appeal to the Ministry of Education is at the disposal of Izvestiya. The union believes that overtime over 18 hours a week for teachers should be paid at an increased rate, and also asked to determine the maximum load on teachers. Now teachers work on average 1.5-2 rates, the All-Russian Trade Union of Education stated, but doubted the possibility of overtime pay, calling for a more direct way - to establish a decent wage. Representatives of the pedagogical community complained that in a number of regions teachers' rates do not reach the minimum wage, and more than 18 lessons per week is already perceived as a norm. On why there was a dialog between teachers, the Ministry of Education, as well as within the teaching community about working hours - in the material "Izvestia".

What is the workload of teachers

The teaching load of a teacher over 18 hours per week (the size of the teacher's rate) should be paid as overtime work. With such a proposal in a letter to the Ministry of Education was made by the trade union "Teacher". According to the Labor Code, the amount of such payment for the first two hours is one and a half times higher than the regular rate, for subsequent hours - twice as much.

"Pedagogical workers are primarily concerned about overtime, which arises due to the high workload, unclear regulation of a variety of pedagogical work and working hours," the document says.

The reason for the letter is the end of public discussion of the draft order of the Ministry of Education and Science "On the duration of working time (norms of hours of work per wage rate) of teaching staff ...", it should replace a similar order of the Ministry of Education and Science from 2014 and will be valid until 2031. The current order, which was adopted before the Ministry of Education and Science was split into two agencies (the Ministry of Education and Science), and the new draft set the duration of lesson activities at 18 hours per week.

In the current document there is a limit of workload for a teacher - 1440 hours per year with the norm for one rate of 720 hours per year. And according to the draft order, school management will be able to independently establish the amount of work: it is "determined annually at the beginning of the school year, established by a local normative act of the organization and the upper limit is not limited. The maximum norm of hours will be fixed in the labor contract - and teachers will agree to this by signing it.

"Transferring the definition of teacher's job duties to the discretion of the administration of an educational institution leads to coercion of teachers to unpaid labor due to their dependence on the employer," the union's letter says.

On the federal portal of draft normative legal acts, this document has been commented on by many users in the "Your suggestions" section as part of a public hearing. They say that the draft order will have a negative impact on the education system, "fixing the existing discriminatory system of remuneration of pedagogical workers," and someone suggested that the new order is fraught with cuts in salaries.

In a letter to the agency, the "Teacher" trade union also asks to clarify the list of additional work for teachers, adding "work on information and communication platforms, in various state information systems" - in connection with the development of digitalization of education. Thus, they believe, the time for completing electronic systems will be taken into account.

"It is necessary to unambiguously indicate the voluntariness of the presence of a teaching employee in an educational organization outside of school hours (including vacations), to limit the duration of a teacher's stay in an educational organization in connection with the conduct of lessons (no more than eight hours during the working day)", - noted in the letter.

"Izvestia" sent a request to the Ministry of Education to clarify why the section on the load limit was absent in the new document, and also asked to evaluate the proposals of the teaching community. At the time of publication of the material, no response was received, but the developer of the document on the portal of draft federal regulations actively responded to comments from users. They, in particular, proposed to also take into account the increased load as overtime labor.

And the representative of the Ministry of Education pointed out that in educational organizations under the concept of overtime work "fall under the concept of overtime work only cases of continuation of work by educators beyond the established working hours at the initiative of the employer in the absence of the replacement employee or parents".

The agency also noted that pedagogical work performed with written consent in excess of the norm, "is paid from the established rate of wages".

Irina Abankina, a professor at the Institute of Education of the Higher School of Economics, reminded Izvestia that a teacher's working week should contain 36 hours: 18 hours for lessons and another 18 for extracurricular activities.

- If a teacher teaches more lessons, then for the normalized part he receives money for the rationed part, which is a multiple of his rate," explained Irina Abankina.

What is the workload of teachers

Marina Sharova, a history and social studies teacher at School No. 2 in the Sverdlovsk Region, noted that teachers often work more than the 18 hours allotted for this. The teachers interviewed by Izvestiya believe it is necessary to index such activities.

- For each type of activity, for example, when teachers take professional development courses, attend meetings, or work with underperformers, there should be a specific amount by which their salary will be increased. Bonuses should not depend on the number of hours or minutes a person spends on a particular activity," says Alexander Snegurov, a teacher at School No. 2045 in Zelenograd.

Elena Vorozheikina, a teacher of English, confirmed that now teachers also work overtime during vacations.

- And vacations are paid to them in the same way as regular working hours. During these days they are engaged, for example, in checking Olympiads or preparing for lessons," she said.

Teachers on average now work on one and a half or two rates, the deputy chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Education reminded Izvestia.

- There are two well-known reasons for this - small salaries, because of which people choose their workload to get something. And the second reason is the shortage of teachers, because people, even those who have just graduated from pedagogical universities, do not go for such salaries. As a result, teachers work for absent subject teachers," he said.

Tatyana Kupriyanova, deputy chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Education, was skeptical of the proposal to pay overtime as overtime work.

- I think that such a norm does not exist and will not exist. The legislation does not refer the work of pedagogical workers during the whole school year in connection with the shortage of staff to overtime activities. Overtime pay is only for extreme cases," she said.

Irina Abankina also called the proposal for overtime payment for the number of lessons over the required 18 hours controversial. According to her, it will encourage teachers to take more hours, regardless of quality, which will lead to overload and burnout.

- Already now, according to statistics, the average teacher's workload is 26-27 hours, which is about 1.5 hours. This is due to the fact that there is a shortage of teachers, and those who work are interested in a good salary, so they take more lessons, - emphasized Irina Abankina.

She noted that the extracurricular part of teachers' work would also be difficult to assess, assuming that they will be paid for it as for overtime. Preparation for lessons, classes with underperforming students, pedagogical councils, and educational work are difficult to measure in hours: an experienced teacher, for example, can prepare for a lesson in 20 minutes, while a beginner can spend two hours on the same.

Tatyana Kupriyanova urged not to look for additional ways to solve the problem of decent pay for teachers, when there is a quite obvious way.

- It is necessary to raise the wage guarantees at the federal level in the form of salary rates, i.e. official salaries, so that people go to schools," she said.

Olga Miryasova, the organizing secretary of the Teacher trade union, explained that in a number of regions a teacher's salary does not reach the minimum wage.

- With the minimum wage of Br25 thousand, the salary of a teacher on one rate can be only Br12 thousand, this amount is stipulated in regional regulations," she gave an example.

She also noted that the regional authorities already perceive 18 hours of lesson activity "as some kind of exotic. In particular, she cited the example of the program to attract teachers in the Moscow region, where teachers are offered compensation for housing if the teacher teaches 27 lessons a week.