The general education teachers would be the biggest losers from the solution proposed by the Ministry of Education and Science, said chairperson of Latvian Trade Union of Education and Science Workers (LIZDA) Inga Vanaga in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma.
Vanaga said the ministry has sent its partners its offer for a better balance of workloads. The offer affects approximately 50 000 teachers. The offer will have a negative impact on all of them.
She stressed that general education teachers, vocational and special education teachers would be the biggest losers from the ministry’s proposed solution. Vanaga explained that the current offer from the ministry basically means – you will work more and the value of your work hours will go down.
As previously reported, LIZDA has plans to hold a protest outside the Cabinet of Ministers building on the 21st of May.
LIZDA maintains that the protest could be prevented by amendments to the Cabinet of Ministers requirements that provide for the continuation of work on balancing workload for all groups of teachers. This means reduced number of hours of contact and more time for other duties. The preferred workload distribution differs for each group of teachers. For example, for general education teachers the desired ratio is “60:40” for work hours.
LIZDA and the Ministry of Education and Science have opposing opinions when it comes to balancing workload. According to the ministry, the conflict surfaced because the two sides have different views when it comes to future work. The ministry is convinced that there are multiple solutions on the table, and that it is necessary to take into account opinions of multiple sides, not just the ministry and the trade union.
The ministry has plans to update guidelines for workload balancing in order to make it clear which duties should be paid for.
Also read: Minister says she doesn’t understand why Latvian teachers are upset
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General education teachers would lose the most from ministry offer, LIZDA stresses
