Author: Ian

ISSUE #2 VOLUME 31— September, 2024

Alberta Teachers Association Local #3 Newsletter

Up the

Creek

Red for Ed - day 1 and 2 of bargaining - PES

Up the Creek is published up to nine times per school year. Your contributions and feedback are always welcome.
Website: local3.wolfcreek.ab.ca
Twitter: atalocal3
Ian McLaren, Communications Officer,
Wolf Creek Local #3

WORTH KNOWING
Can you volunteer for assignable or instructional time?
Assignable and instructional time limits are included in every collective agreement for public, Catholic and francophone teachers in the province. Total assignable time is limited to 1,200 hours per school year, with no more than 916 hours of instructional time.
Limits on assignable and instructional time are like most other provisions in the collective agreement. They apply to all classroom teachers. Like other provisions, such as group health benefits, one cannot opt in or out of a collective agreement provision, unless the agreement clearly states that ability.
In a budgetary crunch, provisions like salary, allowances or benefits cannot be scaled back or lowered to address the issue—these are protected by the collective agreement. Similarly, the assignable and instructional time provisions cannot be opted out from or volunteered into, without time being counted. Nor can other provisions, like duty free lunch (DFL), be “not taken” or not provided.
During unassigned time, there are situations where a teacher may be asked to cover a class or to be reassigned to a specific task. When these situations occur, the time counts in its respective bin. That time must be accounted for and, as a result, a teacher cannot agree or volunteer to do professional work without it counting during the regular workday. The issue lies at the heart of a collective agreement and collective work. Provisions in the collective agreement are meant to create positive working conditions. Actions that circumvent those provisions, like not hiring substitute teachers or not having time count, work against collective efforts.
Teachers, at their core, are problem solvers and want to provide their best professional service. It is not surprising that they are trying to make it work by agreeing to take on more. Yet, regardless of the core values that drive teachers, one cannot provide service outside the provisions of the collective agreement. In the case of instructional and assignable time, while teachers can choose to take on more responsibilities, it must count. Teachers cannot be assigned time without it counting somehow or somewhere. In the case of DFL provisions, a teacher must accept the designated time, and they cannot structure it differently than what the collective agreement specifies. For example, since the agreement speaks to a break, where possible, to occur in the middle of the day, daily, that time cannot fall in the first or last block of the day. One cannot choose or be provided alternative structures to lump time into a single day instead of spreading it out daily, even if mathematically the time all adds up, which is different than the language in the collective agreement. Teachers and school leaders who have questions on specific collective agreement language interpretations should connect with Teacher Employment Services.
The messaging provided from the Association since the inception of the time protection provisions has been consistent. In simple terms. do not schedule teachers to the maximum 1,200 assignable or 916 instructional hours. Having a cushion allows for flexibility and is respectful of teachers’ time. Scheduling to the maximum allowable time pushes people to count minute by minute and removes operational flexibility in schools should a need arise.
On the other hand, volunteering for extracurricular activities cannot be counted as assignable time. Teachers who volunteer to lead or attend school activities outside of school hours, such as coaching extracurricular sports, supervising school dances or leading clubs, are not eligible to count these volunteer hours as assignable time.

Hi Ian, for up the creek- PES raised over 13,00$ for the Terry fox foundation, the top fundraisers from each grade dyed Mr.McEntee’s beard- the photo is the “lovely”result.

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