Are part-timers at my school treated unfairly

[Fieldday]

I'd be really grateful if you might help me figure out whether part-time staff, like myself, are being treated unfairly at my school. I am employed to work three days per week, and consequently am paid 3/5ths of a full time salary. The number of lesson I teach are pro-rata'd fairly, but its the other things like after school staff meetings and staff duties that I am unsure of.

At my school all staff members do one duty - this applies for full time and part-time members of staff. Because I teach 3 days split over 4 I am actually only in school for 2 lunchtimes. Of these, one day I have a duty, and on the other I have our department meeting (our department timetable doesn't allow us to do these during lesson time). This means I am not able to run any extra curricular clubs and get involved in the wider life of the school.

I should explain that I agreed to do three days split over 4 because it helps the school out re- the timetable. However, it does mean I need to come in on a Wednesday afternoon just for two 40 minute lessons (out of 9). As a result the school have said I am only paid to be at school for the two lunchtimes, rather than 3. I live a 40 min drive from school each direction (80 mins per day).

This leads me onto my next question regarding our after school meetings/training. Approximately every two weeks we have an after school meeting on a Wednesday. Part time staff who teach on a Wednesday are required to go to every Wednesday after school meeting, but part-time staff who don't teach on a Wednesday are not required to come in for these at all (so if I did only the three days I actually wouldn't be in on a Wednesday). As I come in for those two lessons on a Wednesday I am required to go to all of these after school meetings - meaning I attend the same number of meetings as full-time members of staff.

Our head of HR tells me this is absolutely fine and legal and I shouldn't expect these wider responsibilities to be pro-rata'd, but I'm not sure I believe her. It doesn't feel fair to a lot of the part-time staff at the school so I thought I would try to get perspectives from other schools.

Thanks very much for your help/opinion.

It's legal but yes it's completely unfair and very irritating, plus it could be viewed as indirect discrimination as it's almost always women (mums) in this position. According to Teacher Tapp about 85% of teachers work full time (and it must be much higher with SLT). Therefore SLT don't really get the problem. What I've done is raise with my line manager which duties, tasks and meetings are non pro rata and therefore fall more heavily on part timers, and asked him to raise it with the head. I've also suggested they survey PT staff once a year to gauge opinion and experiences and evaluate any new initiatives to see if they fall particularly heavily on PTers. I also regularly raise that the day of afterschool events should vary. I feel in a reasonably strong position with this as my small school often does not have a FT timetable to offer specialist staff, so it's win-win as they couldn't actually accommodate many PT to FT requests! I hate the attitude that you're receiving a favour by being "allowed" to work PT. You get paid less and often asked to work your 60% over 4 days or 80% over 5 days.

There is a Directed Time calculator on one of the teaching union websites. I forget which one but you could try googling it. Did I misread your post it are you expected to do a lunchtime duty? If you did the school a favour by accepting spread out days I wouldn't offer to do them any more favours until they start reciprocating. Have you spoken to your union? They would know the position.

It depends on your contract, unfortunately. If you work in an LEA school under a Burgundy Book contract, then you absolutely should not be expected to attend all meetings, or have a higher % of duties etc than a full timer. Your directed time budget for time spent out of teaching hours should be directly proportional to your part-time percentage contract, in comparison to a full timer.
You need to read the STPCD www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/DRAFT%202021%20STPCD%20for%20CONSULTATION%20CLEAN.pdf

If you work in an academy, then this should be covered in your contract, and laid out clearly in your directed time budget.

It would absolutely not be ok in a Scottish state school, but that doesn't apply to you I'd guess - you need to say what kind of school you work in

Thanks all, I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. I do need to check my contract, good point, I guess I was more asking from a ‘what’s fair’ perspective rather then a legal point.

By way of background, I work at an independent day school. The school is generally lovely and values it’s staff highly. Most astonishingly, it is standard to have approx 30% off timetable and they pay very well. So I am happy where I am and was raising the issue with the head of HR as more of an academic point than actually wanting to change something - but it got my hackles up that she seemed to suggest she didn’t see anything unfair about it.

If you're not at a state school then directed time doesn't apply - it wouldn't be ok in a state school.

What about things like INSET days/parents evenings, are you gaining time elsewhere due to the days you work?

I'd keep an eye on performance management - is your pay progression at risk because you are not doing extra curricular? That would be discriminating against you as a part time worker.

I am in an independent school. There is nothing in the contracts about this, however, over the years it's been clarified that we get paid if we have to attend a meeting on a non work day (including virtually) - although my issue with that is it doesn't account for the additional commute if I have to go in person, nor do I have easily available childcare for random things on non working days. They also allow us to be HODS, apply to go through threshold etc regardless of being part time (I'm sure legally this is required, but I know some schools don't). They also try to give us the timetables we want, although they can't always give what you want and there is a definite issue with trapped time. All meetings are minuted or recorded which is helpful. HODS meetings are often held at lunchtime (it used to be mostly after school). So generally I find them pretty reasonable, but there's still an issue, as I said above, of adding new initiatives or requirements without considering the effect on part-timers. Basically it will boil down to i) your HR and SLT are FT and has never considered any of this ii) most PTers are afraid to make a fuss.

Seems totally unfair to me. If your contract is 0.6 fte then you should do 0.6 of meetings/ duties etc otherwise you are working those hours for less pay than your full time colleagues and would probably have an case for sex based discrimination since part timers are usually women.
That said, my school totally takes the piss out of part timers and I’m too scared to challenge them on it because I like my job and know what it’s like to be managed out when you become unpopular with slt.

It's not fair. When I was part time I had .9 of a timetable for .8 of the pay, plus all meetings and duties. When I challenged I I was told they were an academy and could do what they liked. Wish I'd stood up for myself more. Its one of the reasons I went back to full time as it gave me a lighter timetable.

Academies or not it's illegal to treat staff in a way that means part-timers are treated unfairly compared to FT so you can take a stand on this either via your union or you can contact ACAS.