Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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274. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position regarding teachers being obliged to work an extra hour as part of the Croke Park agreement; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some teachers are not happy with the way this measure is being implemented in that they are being mandated to do certain work with no room for flexibility as was the case previously; his views on this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3328/20]

Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael)
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Under the Croke Park Agreement, teachers agreed to provide an additional hour per week to be available to facilitate, at the discretion of management, school planning, continuous professional development, induction, substitution and supervision (including supervision immediately before and after school times). This list is not exhaustive.

A central purpose underlying the provision of this additional time is to provide for these essential activities to take place without reducing class contact/tuition time.

The additional time amounts to 36 hours per year for primary teachers and 33 hours per year for post-primary teachers. The operational arrangements for these hours are set out in Circular 0008/2011 (primary teachers) and Circular 0025/2011 (post-primary teachers).

Greater flexibility for the usage of the additional hours was subsequently introduced. It was agreed that with effect from the beginning of the 2017/18 school year and having regard to the central purpose underlying the provision of the additional time, an amount of time up to but not in excess of 10 hours per year would be available for planning and development work on other than a whole-school basis and as approved by management.