Hi Penny,

When I've worked in independent schools previously we looked at how many periods per week a full time teacher would teach, e.g. 29 x 40 mins and pro rated part time accordingly. We would pay for additional hours worked for inset etc. I think you would need to come up with a calculation of an hourly rate for full time if they are salaried i.e. How many hours/weeks they work and what proportion of salary is for annual leave to ensure the part time staff are being paid fairly.

For new pt staff going forward it might help to explain the hourly rate of pay for additional hours in their contract to simplify things if they need to make a claim and when/what it is appropriate to claim for. I.e. If hourly rate includes normal planning/prep/marking when claiming extra lessons covered or if paid a day rate to cover all of this.

Hope this helps,

Kate

Hi Penny

I had this query when I first started at an independent school as we are not beholden to the burgundy book which states it should be paid.

Our contracts do have a clause in that states

You shall work [all school hours (full time) [the hours set as set out in the letter of appointment or as agreed from time to time (part time)] while the School is in session and at any other time (including during school holidays, at weekends and before and after the School’s normal starting and finishing times) as may be necessary in the reasonable opinion of the relevant Head or Principal for the proper performance of your duties.

Our advisor stated therefore that rather than looking at it that they are not paid for the extra activities (open evenings/ twilights etc.) they would take the view that they *already* receive payment for attendance i.e. that their salary is set at a level to incorporate the assumption that they will attend.

Provided the extra hours don't result in their hourly pay averaging out at less than the minimum wage he stated he would argue that this is a normal requirement of any teacher and their salary is set at a level that reflects them according with this requirement and attending as needed.

He said however that he would be inclined to consider how to make it work in practice and that it could be worth considering whether in the interests of fairness (because part timers could be disproportionately affected, i.e. statistically more likely to have to work outside their normal working hours because they are part time) you might need to offer them TOIL, but on the understanding that attendance at INSET days is mandatory because of the nature of the activities required to be carried out on those days.

Knowing the specific dates of the INSET days far enough in advance should mean that you are able to say quite reasonably that they have sufficient time to make alternative arrangements for the weeks in which INSET days fall.

I questioned how TOIL would work in an education setting and he couldn't provide an answer but it was the only suggestion he could come up with, but he did state that there was a strong enough counter argument, if they claimed they were at a detriment due to working part time, that this is just unavoidable because of the necessity of attendance for the activities of the INSET day that cannot practically be rescheduled or delivered in another format.

Hope that helps.

We just stated they were expected to attend INSET days as mandatory but twilights would be pro-rata'd - both would be unpaid and they would be given reasonable notice of both.

Freya