Education Labour Relations Chamber
24 April 2007
A. Filling of posts
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, like other departments, runs
according to a financial year which starts on 1 April every year and finishes
on 31 March the next year. The number of teachers that will be appointed by the
Department is determined in the previous year according to a standard process
in the Education Labour Relations Chamber.
As per agreement last year a record number of 84 432 educators will be
employed for the 2007/08 financial year. Schools receive educators according to
the number of learners in the respective schools.
When schools reopen in January some have fewer learners and some have more
learners. To be in line with the Department's policy that no class should be
without a teacher, the Department appoints temporary teachers in January and
February where more teachers are needed. As per collective agreement signed by
all the teacher unions in the Education Labour Relations Chamber, these
temporary teachers in vacant posts will receive 30 day notices to remind them
when their services would be terminated. Their services are terminated when
surplus permanent teachers at schools where the learner enrolment has dropped,
are redeployed into posts occupied by temporary teachers. Where no surplus
permanent teachers have been redeployed, the temporary teachers will remain in
those positions. This is an annual process in all provinces.
After surplus teachers have been redeployed, the residual posts will be
advertised. According to the 2007 Post Provisioning Norm (PPN) an additional 2
500 posts will be advertised as well as posts that are vacant as a result of
promotion, death, retirement, etc. The year 2007 will see a record number of
educators for KwaZulu-Natal and we will see that the pool of posts that has
been created will be filled with permanent educators.
B. Conversion of temporary educators to permanent
KwaZulu-Natal Education MEC Ina Cronje inherited the bizarre phenomenon of
"temporary" permanent educators when she assumed office in April 2004.
The process of converting of temporary educators has been a concerted
campaign by the office of MEC since her appointment. Various processes were
utilised to grant security of tenure of personnel appointed in schools in the
province.
The MEC has also mandated the Department's negotiating team on two important
guiding principles:
* to terminate as few temporary educators as possible
* to convert as many temporary educators as possible, all within the approved
post establishment.
Since April 2004 the number of temporary teachers (all categories excluding
substitute teachers) has dropped from 16 938 to approximately 3 000.
Based on these guiding principles, the Department has agreed to extend
collective agreement one of 2006 to 31 March 2007 to allow for a further
conversion of temporary educators in substantive posts.
Parties to Chamber therefore agreed as follows:
1.1 Collective agreement number one will be extended to 31 March 2007. This
means that temporary educators who meet the minimum requirements in terms of
the collective agreement will be retained in their current posts while the
process of matching surpluses to vacancies takes place. Such educators will be
made permanent in their current posts.
1.2 The employment of temporary educators offering subjects where there is a
skills shortage will be regarded as permanent for the purposes of implementing
the final post establishment. This process includes temporary educators who are
academically qualified but who do not have a professional teaching
qualification and are offering subjects listed in Chapter B of PAM as well as
the following subjects listed in Human Resource Management (HRM) circular
number 33 of 2007.
1.3 Chamber also agreed to form a task team to look into the permanent
appointment of both un/under qualified educators with +5 years experience as
well as qualified substitute educators who have more than 12 months teaching
experience.
2.1.1 posts for technical subjects including hair care
2.1.2 posts for technical drawing
2.1.3 posts for instrumental music
2.1.4 posts for practical ballet, national Greek dances, history of ballet and
anatomy
2.1.5 posts for training in the hotel and catering industry
2.1.6 accompanist post for ballet
2.1.7 posts for speech and drama
2.1.8 posts for teaching of nursing at schools for learners with special
educational needs
2.1.9 post for television production and maintenance
2.1.9.1 librarian posts at colleges and departmental librarian posts
2.1.9.2 posts of education therapists, psychologists and social
workers/pedagogues
2.1.10 post for the offering of instructional programmes in engineering field
of study
2.1.11 post for the offering of instructional programmes in the fields of
business studies, art, agriculture, computer and information studies, maritime
studies, utility services and social services.
1.4 In the case of un/under qualified educators the department wants to look
at creative ways to recruit and retain persons with experience and interest in
education. Such educators may be considered for upgrading, especially if they
are teaching subjects where a skills shortage has been identified. These cases
will be addressed separately from the PPN implementation process.
2. Early Childhood Development (ECD)
The delivery of ECD provisioning is a priority area for government both at a
national level and within the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province. Last year the
Department of Education in KZN proactively decided to provide access to grade R
classes to learners in the rural and deep rural areas of the province in
advance of the 2010 goals set down in White Paper six.
The distribution of 455 full time educator posts is a manifestation of the
commitment of KZN to provide universal access to ECD to all children in the
province.
We have engaged labour on the matter and a collective agreement to this
effect has been agreed to and will be signed at a meeting of the leaders of
parties scheduled for 16 March.
Other issues that are being raised by labour include:
* the poor remuneration of ECD practitioners/educators
* the significant variance by School Governing Bodies (SGBs) to top up the
Department's subsidies
* the non recognition of improvement of qualifications of ECD
educators/practitioners
* the extension of ECD to all primary schools in the province based on the
notion of equity and redress.
Many of the afore stated issues are policy matters that fall within the
scope of Committee of Heads of the nine provincial Education Departments
(HEDCOM) and national Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC). However, the
Department will issue a circular to SGBs to clarify the position concerning
remuneration of ECD practitioners.
3. Establishment of a Further Education and Training (FET) Committee
The implementation of the new FET Act has made it imperative that a
sub-committee of chamber be established to oversee the smooth transition of
staff from the Department's persal system to the employ of FET
institutions.
4. Vote weights of the provincial chamber
The vote weights of respective labour unions party to the ELRC has changed.
In KZN province the representation of the respective Combined Trade Unions
(CTU) has changed from 5/5 to CTU South African Democratic Teachers Union
(SADTU) with six representatives and CTU South African Teachers' Union (SAOU)
with four.
Issued by: Department of Education, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial
Government
24 April 2007
