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Following is a question by the Hon Pan Pey-chyou and a written reply by the Secretary for Education, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (November 2):
Question:
Regarding the salaries of teachers in government and aided schools, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) given that according to the recommendation of the Hong Kong Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service in 1989, non-graduate teachers should be granted two increments after obtaining Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) or teachers' certificate or equivalent qualifications, whether all non-graduate Certificated Masters/Mistresses (CMs) who had obtained such qualifications while in service and appointed on transfer as Assistant Education Officers (AEOs) in government schools or Graduate Masters/Mistresses (GMs) in aided schools had been granted the two increments so far; if not, of the reasons; the number of them not granted the two increments;
(b) in each year since 1999, of the number of teachers not granted any increment for relevant experience (ICE) as their accumulated recognized experience fell short of one year when they first joined government schools; whether the authorities have any plan to amend the existing requirements and make reference to the practice of aided schools of counting recognized experience for granting ICEs by the number of months;
(c) in which financial years since 1999 the authorities adjusted the starting salaries of AEOs in government schools and GMs in aided schools, and of the details of the changes in pay points; whether it knows if there were CMs who were appointed on transfer as AEOs in government schools or GMs in aided schools after the downward adjustment of the starting salaries, and their present salaries are lower than that of other teachers with the same years of service as well as of the same rank but was appointed in different years; if so, of the details; if at present the authorities do not have the relevant information, whether they will plan to conduct studies and surveys accordingly in this regard;
(d) given that some teachers' associations reflected that due to appointments on transfer and salary adjustments, the salaries of some government school teachers are lower than that of aided school teachers with the same years of experience, whether the authorities have assessed if this contradicts the objective of encouraging the movement of teachers between schools under the "healthy turnover" policy and has split the teachers; in addition, how the authorities will deal with and assist those government school teachers who were affected by appointments on transfer as well as salary adjustments; and
(e) whether the authorities have considered conducting a comprehensive review of the existing method for calculating the salaries of government school teachers and aided school teachers (including studying whether the salaries of the two groups of teachers should be aligned)?
Reply:
President,
At its meeting on June 20, 2011, the Panel on Public Service of the Legislative Council discussed in detail the salaries of teachers in government and aided schools (LC Paper No. CB(1)2436/10-11(01)). My reply to each part of the question raised by the Member about this matter is as follows:
(a) The entry pay of teachers appointed to the civil service is determined in accordance with Civil Service Regulation (CSR) 130.
According to CSR 130(1), the entry pay of an appointee (including a new recruit and a serving civil servant appointed on transfer from one civil service grade to another) shall normally be offered at the minimum pay point of the civil service grade to which the appointee is appointed. Individual grades may offer a higher entry pay to an appointee to take account of relevant qualifications and/or experience above the prescribed levels in accordance with any prevailing arrangement promulgated by the Secretary for the Civil Service. In addition, CSR 130(2) sets out the method for calculating the pay of serving civil servants upon transfer to another grade. A serving officer appointed on transfer to another grade shall be offered a pay determined in accordance with CSR130(1) or 130(2), whichever is the higher.
A Certificated Master/Mistress (CM) appointed on transfer as an Assistant Education Officer (AEO) may be offered an entry pay higher than the minimum pay point of the AEO rank to take account of his relevant qualifications and/or experience at the time of appointment. Since the implementation by the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) of the recommendations set out in Report No.26 of the Standing Commission on Civil Service Salaries and Conditions of Service, the Education Bureau (EDB) (i.e. the ex-Education Department) has all along granted two increments to such CMs with recognised professional qualifications in accordance with CSR 130(1) on their transfer to the AEO rank.
Subsequent to the 1999 Starting Salaries Review, the Administration lowered the starting salaries for degree and related grades (including the Education Officer grade) with effect from April 1, 2000 to bring them more in line with the entry pay levels in the private sector. For the AEO rank, the starting salary was adjusted downward from Master Pay Scale (MPS) Point 17 to MPS Point 12. To ensure that serving teachers on transfer among public sector schools would not be adversely affected by the downward adjustment of the starting salary of AEO, the Administration put in place a "carry forward arrangement", under which the pay of a serving teacher appointed as an AEO on or after April 1, 2000 may be set at a level determined in accordance with CSR 130(1) or the "carry forward arrangement", whichever is the higher. If the teacher receives a higher entry pay under the "carry forward arrangement", the granting of increments under CSR 130(1) for relevant qualifications and/or experience will not be applicable.
The EDB has been adhering to the above mechanism in determining the entry pay of AEOs.
A similar arrangement has also been adopted in determining the salaries of teachers in aided schools. Serving CMs appointed on transfer as Graduate Masters/Mistresses (GMs) in aided schools will be offered the prevailing starting salary of the GM rank plus increments for relevant qualifications (i.e. Post-graduate Certificate in Education or equivalent) and/or experience, or a pay determined under the "carry forward arrangement", whichever is the higher. If the teacher receives a higher entry pay under the "carry forward arrangement", the granting of increments for relevant qualifications will no longer be applicable.
The EDB does not have the number of cases in which salaries were determined in accordance with the "carry forward arrangement" where granting of increments for relevant qualifications was not applicable.
(b) According to CSR 130(1), the entry pay of an appointee to the civil service shall normally be offered at the minimum pay point of the grade to which the appointee is appointed. However, when a department has to recruit officers with specific working experience due to operational needs and has recruitment difficulty at that particular rank, it may consider offering incremental credits for experience (ICE) to new recruits with experience above the basic entry requirements. Under the principle of prudent use of public funds, the recruiting department should not offer ICE if there are sufficient suitable candidates willing to join the service at the normal entry pay. Likewise, it should not advance the annual incremental date of a new recruit to take account of the remainder of his working experience that falls short of one whole year. Since there was no recruitment difficulty in the open recruitment of AEOs in recent years, the ICE arrangement was not applicable to newly appointed AEOs.
(c) The Administration conducted reviews of starting salaries in the civil service in 1999, 2006 and 2009 respectively. Adjustments made to the starting salaries of AEOs in government schools after these three reviews are tabulated in Annex 1.
According to the established practice, findings of starting salaries reviews in the civil service are also applicable to teachers in aided schools who are paid according to the civil service pay scales. Therefore, the above adjustments to the starting salaries of AEOs are also applicable to GMs in aided schools.
When a CM in a government school is appointed on transfer as an AEO, he will be offered a pay not lower than that before his transfer, no matter whether his entry pay is determined according to CSR 130(1) or the "carry forward arrangement". A similar arrangement is also adopted in aided schools. When a CM in an aided school is appointed as a GM, he will be offered a pay determined under the "re-assessment method" or "carry forward arrangement", whichever is the higher, to ensure that he will not be paid less than before. In sum, the existing entry pay determination arrangements already provide salary protection for individual CMs in government and aided schools on transfer.
Apart from the starting salaries effective at the time of appointment, the rank concerned and the experiences, the salary of a teacher may also be affected by the effective date of appointment, the prevailing pay determination rules and the individual appointment profiles. It is therefore inappropriate to make a general comparison of the salaries of teachers appointed at different times. The EDB has not conducted any survey on the terms and conditions of appointment of teachers on transfer in different years.
(d) Although government school teachers appointed on civil service terms and aided school teachers belong to the education profession and are remunerated according to the same pay scale, they are employed under two different operational and management systems and governed by different rules and codes. While different terms of appointment, including pay determination rules, have been adopted by government and aided schools for their teachers, such terms have all along been consistently applied in the respective systems.
"Healthy turnover" is an administrative measure, aiming to ensure that a serving teacher will not be paid less upon transfer between schools within the public education sector unless the transfer is from a graduate teaching post to a non-graduate teaching post. The existing pay determination arrangements already provide salary protection for individual teachers on transfer.
We would like to reiterate that "healthy turnover" does not guarantee or require that the terms and conditions of appointment for government school teachers should be strictly the same as those for aided school teachers. Therefore, the existing pay determination arrangements do not contravene the objectives of "healthy turnover".
(e) As mentioned above, officers in the Education Officer and CM grades in government schools are civil servants. Their salaries and other terms and conditions of appointment are determined in accordance with the relevant CSRs and other rules and regulations promulgated by the CSB. On the other hand, aided school teachers are not civil servants. Their salaries and other terms and conditions of appointments are determined by the Codes of Aid and rules and regulations issued by the EDB. When accepting an appointment offered by a government school or an aided school, a teacher should be aware of the differences in the terms of appointment offered by these two types of schools, including salary arrangements and fringe benefits. Since the above pay determination methods have been consistently applied in the respective systems, the Administration has no plans to revise the existing arrangements.
Ends/Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Issued at HKT 13:02
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