BOLETÍN 1842: New Schools, "New Salary" Complains, Salary Increases, New evaluation system, BAC..

PUBLISHED SINCE 1964

Comité du Personnel Staff Committee Personalrat

Ecoles Européennes European Schools           Europäische Schulen

Bulletin No 1842

Meeting of the Staff Committee, 10. September, Brussels

Chair: Martine Bottin (Bx III)

Introduction: the purpose of this meeting at the start of the school year is twofold: to introduce new staff representatives (7 this year) to the work of the Staff Committee, and to meet with the Secretary General (Mr K Kivinen) of the European Schools and his deputy (Mr G Marcheggiano) at the beginning of the year .

• Adoption of the Agenda: Adopted with some additions under Other Business
• The presidency recalls the role of the staff representative at the school level and the role of the Staff Committee within the ES system. She reminds representatives of the existence of the Internal Rules for the Staff Committee (copies of both the English and French versions  to be distributed to all reps electronically by the secretary). She also reminds reps that copies of the Staff Regulations and other documents, together with all decisions by the Board of Governors since 1998 can be found on the website of the Schools ( www.eursc.eu )
• Meeting with the Secretary General (SG) and the Deputy Secretary General (DSG).

• The SG welcomes all new members of the committee. There was a successful start to year with the Laeken and Mamer schools opening, as well as a Type II school in the Hague and  a Type III school in Bad Vilbel;  In September  2013 there will be two further type II schools in Copenhagen and Tallinn.  Discussions on Bx V, VI and VII are to be initiated with the Belgian presidency; Laeken will be full in 2016 and  Berkendael one year later. Thought is being given to these new schools only being primary and nursery to feed  the secondary in the existing  Bx I, II, III, IV schools.
• No clear data on unfilled posts yet (the situation is not yet clear for Italy, Belgian, Germany). In reply to a question the SG confirms that the cut in salary play a role in recruiting problems, but there are also other reasons… 
• The Complaints Board decided in favour of two colleagues in Kalrsruhe who appealed against the new salaries on the basis that they were wrongly informed by the school and inspector and they will receive the old salary for one year; other appeals are like to be unsuccessful since colleagues were correctly informed at the time of appointment. The  CdP comments on the danger of more and more colleagues only staying 2 years, and raises the question of the nursery/primary salary differences.
• Salary increases (from 1.7.2011): The proposed increase of 1.7% was blocked by the Council and the Parliament, and the Commission has taken action before the ECJ. A decision by the Court is expected in September or October. ECJ could invoke “crisis clause” to block the proposed increase. The budget for 2012 can cope with a salary increase but it will be touch and go. Note that €2M has been cut from the draft budget for 2013 (an amount which corresponds to salary increase….)
• There are at present no British inspectors and no German secondary inspector, but it is hoped that both Germany and the UK will nominate replacements very soon.
• Pre-pilot inter-disciplinary project (Bac). There was a  WG meeting in July;  a proposal was made and this will go to the directors meeting on 12 Sept. Last year’s pre-pilot did not have enough participants to evaluate. In a new pilot phase all schools should be involved with each involving at least one class from each language section.  CdP: no CdP representation in WG, no real feedback, problems with resources, time for both teachers and students… SG:  CdP will be represented in WG; there is a possibility of incorporation in the  review of secondary education with remuneration as for teaching. DSG: the project  not lost time, a deficit and must be included in our system…
• Linked to the project is a new evaluation system. Primary evaluation will also be revised.  Only Denmark, Sweden and Slovakia SLOV apply ECTS at present. The  Inspectors “shot it down” because of moderation and application of Gauss curve. Five passing grades and two failing ones – thisl will pass by the inspectors and the WG and a proposal will be put before the JTC, start in first and second years. No timetable for implementation .Aware of the need for absolute clarity of meaning of grades for universities.
• Revision of primary report: new group with no CdP representation.  The SG states there is not yet officially a new WG, but there will be such a group and the CdP will be represented.
• New maths program and new Bac: the 2012 results were significantly below long term average. 30 resits, most of whom had “nothing to lose”. 24 turned up on 3^rd September.  Some colleagues declared they hadn’t completed syllabus and the new exam was  “a shock” for candidates…

Chemistry Bac: there were 44 complaints from candidates who felt the exam was too difficult and 6 of these are going through the Complaints Board. The results did not differ significantly from the long-term average.

• Dematerialisation: Epso distance marking. A pilot phase is foreseen in some schools, but not yet for the BAC. The time available is sufficient for introduction for BAC marking in 2014, but the SG “ would prefer to go back to the BoG and ask for more time if there are problems.” The system is very secure (unless an Espo technician has direct or indirect contact with the ES...)  
• TI-Nspire in subjects other than maths…. “Scientific Subjects” includes Eco and Geo.

Continued in BI 1843