What the government proposed and why the teachers object

Fifty years since the first teacher evaluation system was introduced, Cyprus is bound by the EU to modernise it.

As civil servants and modernisation always make for uneasy bedfellows, it should come as no surprise that almost a year after the education ministry made its first proposal, it has faced ferocious pushback from state school teachers.

Cyprus has much to lose if it fails to introduce a new system, yet the teachers are persistently churning out arguments about why the current scheme should remain unchanged and sending in lists of demands.

Such arguments were that constantly questioning the adequacy of teachers was not in line with the established norm in the civil service, teachers would be under stress and earned rights would be violated.

With all the commotion of the past months, it may be possible that valid demands are being obscured.

What the ministry proposed

On February 7 this year, Education Minister Athena Michaelides presented the draft proposal, which she said was an “important pillar for the improvement of the educational system” and a “fundamental action” in the framework of Cyprus’ EU recovery and resilience plan.

The draft proposal was the result of the ministry’s consultations with various parties, including teachers, inspectors, parents and students, as well as the study of best practices abroad.

In February, the ministry proposed that the evaluations be carried out more frequently than the current practice.

It broadened the scale of evaluation, established an appeals body, introduced promotions to senior teacher and strengthened the role of the headmaster.

The teachers would be evaluated by more than one person and it would be possible to carry out further evaluations.

Teachers would be fortified throughout their career with vocational training and their evaluation would be carried out on the basis of scientific, transparent and simple criteria.

Why the teachers objected

Secondary school teaching union, Oelmek

After examining the proposal, Oelmek said it agreed in principle that the evaluation system should be improved but gave a list of points it disagreed with in the ministry’s proposal.

It said the new system demanded a second assistant principal, a position that currently does not exist.

Vocational training should take place during work hours.

Teachers should be evaluated by two inspectors and the headmaster every three years and the inspectors should visit the classroom of the teacher under evaluation only every four months. The number of lessons observed should be no more than two. Oelmek also said that the inspectors’ opinion should count for 35 per cent each and the headmaster’s 30 per cent.

An advisory inspector is not necessary, Oelmek argued.

It added that constantly questioning the adequacy of teachers was not in line with the established norm in the civil service.

Oelmek also disagreed with the proposed position of senior teacher and instead suggested increasing the number of assistant headmasters.

It also said training should be limited.

It did, however, say that changing the scale from 1-40 to 1-100 had some positive elements.

It furthermore said the appeals body should be truly independent.

In its last comment, Oelmek said teachers should have fewer teaching hours if they are to attend a training programme.

Primary school teaching union, Poed

Poed also sent a list of comments, saying that just because it was linked to the EU recovery and resilience plan did not mean it could go through.

Poed said the ministry’s proposal did not satisfy the organisation, which said the bill should clarify all the aspects of the endeavour, such as self-evaluation of the school unit, new positions, increase of work and administrative hours based on the new duties etc.

It added that the headmasters would be getting an upgraded role in evaluations and that the whole proposal would put teachers under more stress and burden them with paperwork and increased accountability.

The only safety net, Poed said, was a further evaluation, which should also include self-evaluation.

Poed said the proposal should include new job descriptions, mentoring for newly appointed teachers, professional growth and training, better schools, better administration and more non-teaching time for the teachers.

It also called for more administrative hours, at least double the number of inspectors, upgrading of salary scales, a reward system for good teachers and a say in the evaluation criteria as inspectors could not know how good the teachers were.

The ministry’s new proposal

Following the feedback from the teachers and inspectors, the education ministry put forward a second proposal on April 17, saying some of their demands had not been included as they were not in line with the philosophy and scientific nature of the proposal.

The main changes made to the plan were a tripartite appeals body, which would exclude members who had participated in the contested evaluation.

Training programmes would be held after promotion and references to written examinations for promotion were removed.

Programmes for pedagogical and teaching adequacy would run for two years and the teacher could request a transfer to a different school for the second year.

Personal achievement records were ditched and the current personal information sheet would continue to be used, however it would be digitalised.

In evaluations, the say of the headmaster is reduced to 20 per cent. Furthermore, those evaluating would also be evaluated through further evaluations.

The new system would be supervised by a committee, headed by the education ministry’s permanent secretary.

Following the new proposal, the education ministry prepared regulations which were set to public debate.

The ministry said the proposal would be implemented gradually over the course of five years.

What happened then?

The revised proposal was sent to parliament on October 2.

Oelmek categorically dismissed it, saying it was identical to the previous one.

It called on the president of the Republic to withdraw it immediately and for talks to start afresh.

Oelmek also called on parliament to bin the proposal and activated its decision to strike.

The strike was set for November 19, to coincide with the first article-by-article discussion of the draft regulations at the House education committee.

The strike affected thousands of secondary school students and the House education committee took the initiative to launch meetings with the interested parties.

As a result, Poed decided to postpone its work stoppage scheduled for November 26 until the plenum is in session, if the final outcome is not to its liking.

Meanwhile, President Nikos Christodoulides entered the fray. He stressed the urgent need for parliament to approve the teacher evaluation reform; a key milestone tied to €60 million in funding from the EU Recovery and Resilience Fund.

He also warned that “not a single euro will be allowed to be lost” due to delays.

What ensued was an exchange of statements and warnings, culminating in a remark that temporarily diverted attention from the essence of the matter, when head of Oelmek Demetris Taliadoros was so riled he blurted out on TV that “a woman turned up fifty years later to change the plan”, referring to the education minister.

Time will tell what will happen next, however time itself is running out and the EU is breathing down the government’s neck.