Teachers on personal contracts program yields zero results

In October 2022, the government came to an agreement with the Israeli Teachers’ Union that included the employment of specialist teachers on personal contracts, due to a shortage of teachers at a high level in mathematics and science. After more than two years, and despite the fact that hundreds of people registered interest, the Ministry of Education has not hired a single teacher on a personal contract.

The Ministry of Education claims that the regulatory clearance for the program was received after the start of the academic year, and therefore it was not possible to run it on time. However, there are those who believe that the reason is pressure from the teachers’ union. “They don’t want it so much, it hurts workers’ monopoly on education and the power they exercise.”

The Teachers’ Union agreed to employ staff on personal contracts amounting to up to 6% of the teaching workforce, in exchange for a previous collective agreement signed at the end of the previous government’s term. Under this agreement, teachers received a significant pay increase, and the system of annual salaries for long service was maintained. The agreement to employ teachers on personal contracts has not been achieved, due to a dispute over its interpretation, and also due to bureaucratic difficulties, at least according to the Ministry of Education.

700 high quality filters

In July 2024, a call for applications was published for an initial pilot scheme with only 200 jobs in the Tel Aviv and central areas. A source at the Ministry of Education said: “There were more than 700 high-quality candidates, without campaigning and without advertising.” “Many PhD students applied, a high-quality group of people who would be well suited to combine study with teaching for extra income, as well as many technology workers. Many of them wanted to switch to part-time work and teach in parallel. We were surprised at the quality of the candidates.”

Natan Meisels, a programmer by profession and father of four Givatayim, tried to enter the education system as a teacher on a personal contract, and was banned. “I discovered that at my children’s school there were no teachers of English at the native speaker standard, so I tried to get by myself,” he relates. “It only took three months to get on the pay scale. I ran into strange circumstances, like a second-degree pregnancy condition. As it happens, I have a second-degree pregnancy, but what does that have to do with anything?”

The entire project was shut down before it even started. “In mid-August, district representatives said they would not continue dealing with it until the Ministry of Education resolved the dispute, because there was strong pressure on them from the teachers’ union not to cooperate,” the Education Ministry source said. . “We had to close it. There is a shortage of teachers for maths, science and English, and people who are those subjects for their careers came in, and we took them out. The bottom line is that the teachers’ union won, and the pupils lost.”

“They pretty much made me give up,” Maysles says. “I have no expectations from the teachers’ union; my complaint is against the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education.” Until the issue is resolved, the education system will continue to suffer from a shortage of teachers. The consequences of this were seen a month ago, when it emerged that Israeli schoolchildren had received their lowest scores in 17 years in international TIME tests in mathematics and science.

The reason for the need for personal contracts is the teacher salary model. Beginning teachers earn very little, regardless of the subjects they teach and their personal qualifications, and practically the only way to progress to a good salary is to be a teacher for twenty years. In such a situation, it is difficult to attract people to subjects in demand, and teach for only a few years. The deal on personal contracts allows for monthly salaries of 14,500-16,500 NIS, without rank or long service requirements.

The main dispute is the provision in the agreement that the number of teachers on personal contracts will reach “6% of the total number of teachers working in the civil service”. The teachers’ union argues that this is intended to be in addition to existing allocated teaching hours, not at the expense of them. The Department of Education source said, “If the hours were manned, you would not bring another teacher in. All their claims are about matters that they say ‘were verbally agreed upon.’” The oath in the agreement, and the correspondence it refers to, was laconic and very brief.

Sources familiar with the matter say that the issue is merely an administrative problem and not a substantive one: “In any case, there is a shortage of teachers, the hours allotted are currently not being filled. If only we could reach a situation where we had a surplus of teachers and had to decide who Grants a job slot.

The Ministry of Education claims that the reason for closing the program was not opposition by the teachers’ union but a bureaucratic failure: “The new recruitment format required special approval from the Civil Service Commission. Regulatory approval was received after the opening of the school year and the Ministry said that it was not possible to run the program in the planned time.” “. “We are prepared to run the program as a pilot in two selected districts in the 2025-2026 school year.” The response does not explain why the call for applications opened in July and closed in August, before the start of the academic year. Sources familiar with the matter testify that there is indeed difficulty in approving contracts, but “the real obstacle is the Ministry of Education.”

The Israel Teachers’ Union stated in response: “We are not aware of the claims. The Teachers’ Union is acting in accordance with the collective agreement.”

Published by Globes, Israel Business News – en.globes.co.il – on January 26, 2025.

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