Work division plan: around the table with the team
Who gets which group, who will do the musical this year and are we going to camp? Each team must discuss this mutually this spring in order to arrive at a work division plan. This must be implemented no later than August 1, 2019.
Picture: Type tank
What is consultation? Eugenie Stolk, primary education director at de Algemene Onderwijsbond, cites the results of a study conducted a few years ago. Inquiries among primary school principals at the time revealed that 94 percent believed that there had been consultation with the team regarding the division of all tasks at school. Stolk: "The teachers also received the same question, and 71 percent of them said that there had been no consultation."
A 'striking difference', says Stolk with a sense of understatement. "So it is important that every teacher experiences it formally: I can now express my opinion on this subject."
This spring, teams in primary education will have to talk to each other about the division of labor at school. This has been agreed in the collective labor agreement. By August 2019, clear agreements must be made at every school, which have been established in a broad dialogue. A new job for every team, at every school? Stolk: "No. If everyone is already completely satisfied, you don't have to change anything, of course. But you will determine that together."
Initiative
A number of discussion points that can be discussed: who teaches which group, what about the division between teaching tasks and other tasks? How much time before the start of the lessons do you have to be present at school as a teacher, what about the breaks and time that can be spent on pre- and post-work? The idea is that the school leader takes the initiative to make agreements about this with the entire team. Does that take a long time? Then, as a staff section in the MR, you can of course give your colleagues or the director a bit of a shake, advises Stolk. "As a PMR, you can play a role in helping the process run smoothly."
As a PMR, you can play a role in helping the process run smoothly
They still exist, says Stolk, the schools where ready-made lists are handed out, and that is called a 'work distribution plan'. Eugenie Stolk: "It simply states who teaches which group and what needs to be done this school year: musical, Sinterklaas, new teaching method, ICT policy."
Apart from the fact that this is not the idea behind 'consultation with the team': as staff you really have a say in this. "If it's too much, you have to choose as a team. Postpone things. Then no new teaching method next school year."
Change
As a pmr you can ensure that there is a clear moment in everyone's agenda to talk about the division of work in the coming school year. The pmr must therefore also be able to determine afterwards whether the consultation has indeed been conducted and establish that there is support for the plan. Only then can the pmr feel comfortable about it and agree to the work distribution plan.
As a pmr you can ensure that there is a clear moment in everyone's agenda to discuss the division of work in the coming school year
Stolk advises: "As a team, determine in advance how you are going to vote. It is about a decision with support, but what you as a team think is sufficient support is up to you. Half plus 1? Two-thirds majority, or 75 percent in favour? " And, she says: "Slightly more say in the team, automatically means less say in the hands of the individual teacher and the school leader/school board. It may happen that as a teacher you don't get what you want and still have to adapt. Or that the team wants something different than the headmaster had in mind."
New teaching methods?
What work gets done and what doesn't is a choice. Stolk: "As a team, you can turn different knobs. The funding is based on 930 hours of teaching. If you want to introduce three new teaching methods, then you know that such an operation will take a lot of time. The result is that you have to do other things so you can't do it. Then you have to choose."
What choices then? "For example, don't go on a school camp with groups 6, 7 and 8, but only with group 8. Quite difficult, but it is necessary to look at it critically. For example, why would you participate in the evening four days as a team? You can also choose that parents organize that themselves if they think it's important."
Stolk sees many possibilities in practice: "There are quite a lot of choices. It's about: what kind of school do you want to be, what do you focus on. What do we want as a team and what is feasible." Questioning activities can lead to 'hassle' within a team, between people who 'have done everything ten times already' and enthusiastic teachers who find everything interesting and up for anything. Stolk: "It is therefore necessary to organize the discussion properly, for example by appointing a discussion leader. That can also be the school leader."
There are quite a lot of choices. It's about: what kind of school do you want to be, what do you focus on
De AObdirector sees great advantages in this new way of discussing the division of work together as a team: "You hear from each other what everyone is doing. In the past, this was mainly discussed one-on-one with the school principal." At the same time, this openness can lead to discussions.
"Maybe a teacher has taken on a lot of things in recent years, and he or she should now let go of that. Or maybe someone else who works part-time has had every Friday off for 10 years. That's nice, but you don't have to "It might be someone else's turn to be free that Friday. You have to discuss that among yourselves. So no more one-two punches with the school principal, but many things are discussed with the whole team."
No more one-two with the school principal, but many things are discussed with the whole team
The detailing of the division of labor does leave some room for individual agreements. After the plan has been determined, there will be a personal conversation between employer and employee before the summer holidays 2019, about how this will work out for each individual.
Acquired rights
Stolk thinks the new openness suits the teamwork at a school: "You can discuss things with each other: you have the advantage of having Friday off, maybe you can take on that residual job this year? It's good that people who work closely together know: what kind of tasks do you actually do besides teaching? Or: why do you do so little on the side? Why is something an acquired right, should we not even change that? Whereby everyone is of course entitled to privacy."
Director
Teamwork includes giving each other space and trust, says Eugenie Stolk, with room for change: "If you don't like it, you can make adjustments." The hours that a teacher spends in front of the class are completely boarded up, she says. "So outside that classroom you have to have as much control as possible over your work and working time. You have to be able to direct yourself. That ensures more job satisfaction."
Do teams feel like talking about this together? Stolk thinks so. "I also hear that there has been active discussion everywhere about what happened with the extra money against the workload. That went well. Of course, teachers want to have a say and get more control over their work."
The joint educational organizations have had a handy infographic made about the division of labor plan. Download the infopgraphic.
What does the pmr do?
The staff section is monitoring whether the dialogue about the division of labor is indeed taking place this spring. If not, as PMR members you can ring the bell with the school leader to encourage conversation. The pmr ultimately has the right to consent to the division of labor plan, checks its content and assesses whether the plan has sufficient support.
