Part-time teaching and directed time questions please

[LivingForTheWinter]

I'm on a 0.6 contract.
I have been told I'm expected to attend various events on my days off, both parents' evenings and things like open evenings. The first INSET was on a day off for me but I've only just started so didn't feel I could argue. I had to pay for childcare that day

Where do I stand please?

No you shouldn't be doing this. I didn't work on a Friday and if my school had INSET on a Friday I didn't attend.

You can’t be forced to work on a day that is not your normal working day. You can be asked to work, in which case you should be asking for overtime or time off in lieu. For parents evenings and open evenings it’s a bit trickier, but your school should have a directed time calendar and they should have calculated how these fit into your directed time.

I have a member who cannot be required to attend ANY meetings because they're all on their day off.

They have volunteered to come in for parents' evenings but will be paid for that.

Thanks. Is there an amount of directed time that is deemed acceptable?

You do a maximum of 0.6 of whatever an equivalent member of staff does. That's all.

And you can only be directed in days on which you ordinarily work.

0.6 * 1265 hours per year.

Only if the full time equivalent does 1265

So if every parents eve or any other day isn't on my ordinary working day I don't do it? Even if that means I end up doing zero?

That's correct.

If they want you to do them, they either pay you, give you time off in lieu or find time in your working week for you to do it.

But they can't make you.

I would have this conversation with your line manager/SLT now to avoid disagreements about it later in the year.
How many INSETS/parent's eves are they expecting you to do? Will they pay you or give TOIL?
Are you in a union? They will back you up/give you guidance about this. If in NEU they have loads of advice on directed time/part time work.

I'm 0.6, my working days mean I do all the parent's eve/open eves but I miss all but one INSET

Are you private or state? I'm private and it's written into my contract that I have to attend parents' evenings. If an INSET falls on my non-working day, I am expected to attend but get paid more for it.

Your school should have met with you to go through the DTB and agree between you what you will and will not attend. 100% nothing on your days off unless they pay you or give TOIL.
You can look at 2 ways….
Do 60% of everything so 60% of parents eves, CPD sessions, PM targets or do 60% as an overall so swapping 5 x 1hr CPD for a training day.
Some schools insist on one model.
Am Secondary and have 5 part timers who I line manage so have done DTB budgets for years.
sometimes you can’t even get to 60% of DTB if meetings fall on your days off and that’s not your fault at all. Don’t use your PPA to do tasks that full timers have allocated time for such as H&S training, PM reviews.

Have worked 0.6 fte in 3 different schools now. I am never expected to come in on my non-working days. I have been asked if I can come in, then either been paid for it or swapped a day for it. But it's not an expectation and if you are asked to come in, you can say no.

I currently miss every weekly staff meeting as they fall on one of my non-working days!

They CANNOT make you work on your day off, but you ARE expected to do the relevant percentage of directed time.

e.g. if parents evening is on your day off, they can either pay you to attend (if you agree) or give you time of in lieu. E.g. I previously did an open evening on my day off then got 3 hours off on an inset day.

You still need to do your percentage of directed hours, but that needs to happen on your working days. How that is scheduled needs to be a conversation between you and the school.

One of my colleagues does parents evening online on their working day instead as they cannot possibly come in on their day off due to childcare. Another who pretty much misses every INSET day does some admin tasks instead to make up their directed hours.

They do not have to "make up" their directed hours!

You could totally refuse to do parents' evening if it is on your non-working day. However, I think they would probably be justified in asking you to communicate with the parents another way. For instance, if you share a class, you might brief the other teacher on progress in the bits of the curriculum you've covered, or in secondary, they might ask you to respond by email/telephone to any questions from the parents that couldn't be answered by the head of department. The time for that would still have to come out of your directed time budget, but it might still be a lot easier to do the parents evening!

If you are considering agreeing to anything that is on your non-working day, then you can point out that you are not obliged to attend, although you can see that it would be useful to do so, so you are willing to attend if they are willing to pay you for the extra.

Your directed time should add up to the correct proportion of 1265, but it doesn't have to be the right proportion of each type of activity. So, for instance, you might do more parents evenings and fewer break duties or staff meetings.

Also, sometimes schools say that if you are 0.6 you have to do 3/5 inset days even if they are all on your non-working day. That is not true; if the inset days are all on your non-working day, then you will almost certainly be teaching more than 3/5 of teaching days. they can't have it both ways!

In my experience, where schools know the rules and don't try to force part-timers to do more than they should or to work on non-working days, part-timers are rather more likely to flex when asked nicely, and given some pay or time in lieu.