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Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Man-kwong and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (June 29):
Question:
I have previously requested the Education Bureau to provide the number of teachers employed by aided schools under fixed-term contracts to fill the permanent teaching posts within their approved teaching establishment and the number of schools concerned, and have noted that this is a very common employment practice among schools. As such, I have written to the Education Bureau, requesting it to ensure prevention of abuse of the practice of employing regular teachers with fixed-term contracts by schools in filling the permanent teaching posts within their establishment. The authorities replied in late June last year that they had urged schools to review such arrangements and undertook to take timely follow-up actions with those schools which had abused this employment practice, so as to ensure the job stability of teachers, and to ensure that the long-term development needs of schools will be met. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the numbers of aided primary and secondary schools which had employed contract teachers to fill the permanent teaching posts within their approved teaching establishment in the 2010-2011 academic year and the numbers of such contract teachers, together with a breakdown by District Council district as set out in Annex I, as well as the changes in those numbers as compared with those in the 2009-2010 academic year;
(b) whether the authorities will cap the ratio of the number of contract teachers employed by each aided school to fill the permanent teaching posts within its approved teaching establishment for compliance by schools; if they will, of the ratio;
(c) of the respective numbers of primary and secondary schools the authorities had written to last year, urging them to review the relevant employment arrangements; and among them, the number of primary and secondary schools which to date have not carried out any reasonable improvement, and the number of regular teachers employed by them with fixed-term contracts, together with a breakdown by the districts in which the schools are situated; and
(d) how the authorities will deal with those schools which employ regular teachers with fixed-term contracts for a prolonged period of time or employ a large number of such regular teachers and show no improvement after being urged by the authorities; whether the authorities have demanded those schools to significantly reduce the number of regular teachers employed with fixed-term contracts?
Reply:
President,
(a) The posts on the approved teaching establishment of aided schools are regular posts, and the teachers filling these posts (except temporary or supply teachers) are regular teachers. According to the information provided by schools on the appointment of teachers, while most regular teachers do not have a fixed term of employment, a small number of regular teachers are employed for a clearly defined contract period. These teachers, same as those without a specified term of employment, are eligible to join the Grant/Subsidised Schools Provident Fund Schemes. The numbers of aided secondary and primary schools by school district of the Education Bureau (EDB) and figures on the employment of regular teachers on defined contract period (DCP) term in the 2010/11 school year, as well as the changes in these figures as compared with the 2009/10 school year, are set out at Annexes II and III respectively.
(b) Some schools employ regular teachers on DCP term because of factors like actual operational needs, manpower requirements in the coming years, etc., for example, anticipated redundancy arising from reduction of classes in future, time-limited nature of some regular teaching posts, flexibility in curriculum planning and subject match of teachers. The EDB has always been encouraging schools to adopt, according to their needs for continuous development, the most suitable arrangements for the appointment of teachers with a view to providing quality education for students. At the same time, schools should also endeavour to provide a stable working environment for their teachers in order to retain talents and boost teachers' morale. As the circumstances differ from school to school and the reasons for employing regular teachers on DCP term also vary, it is not advisable to cap the number or percentage of this type of teachers that can be employed by each school.
(c) Last year, we reviewed the teacher employment arrangements of aided primary and secondary schools through different channels, including verbal and written inquiries and school visits, and noted that most schools employing regular teachers on DCP term did so owing to actual operational needs. However, in order to improve the job security of teachers, the EDB wrote to 10 primary schools and 49 secondary schools, urging them to review their employment arrangements to ensure that the employment of teachers on DCP term did not exceed the extent required by their long-term development needs. This year, we have followed up the situation of these 59 schools and found that most of them have reduced the number of regular teachers employed on DCP term. However, 5 primary schools and 17 secondary schools have yet to make improvement in this respect. The distribution of these schools by school district and the numbers of such teachers employed are set out at Annex IV. We will continue to follow up the matter with these schools.
(d) We have maintained contact with schools that have employed regular teachers on DCP term for a prolonged period of time or employ a large number of such teachers. According to most of these schools, they cannot improve the situation for the time being because the contracts of the teachers concerned have not yet expired. Nevertheless, they plan to appoint such teachers as regular teachers without a defined contract period in the next one or two school years. Some schools have employed more regular teachers on DCP term to allow greater flexibility in subject match of teachers at the early stage of the implementation of the New Senior Secondary (NSS) academic structure because it takes time for them to assess studentsˇ¦ needs and plan the combinations of elective subjects to be offered. Despite that, these schools have indicated that, upon the smooth implementation of the NSS curriculum, such teachers will be employed as regular teachers without a defined contract period. For some other schools, the reason for employing regular teachers on DCP term is to cope with possible redundancy arising from anticipated reduction of classes due to the decline in student population in recent years.
We will keep in view the practice of employing regular teachers on DCP term by schools. If irregularities persist without good reason, the EDB will discuss with the schools and school sponsoring bodies concerned, and ask them to deal with the matter seriously.
Ends/Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Issued at HKT 15:07
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