Charter Rationale ii: individual DTBs

Time budgets will be specific to the needs of individual teachers, taking into account the different time demands different activities will take and any extra responsibilities that a teacher may have. These time allocations in directed time budgets will be evidence-based and realistic.

  • Teachers’ Pay and Conditions of Service 1987-26/5 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/de/1987-26-teachers-pay.pdf – ‘Central to the new Conditions of Service is the concept of Directed Time. An employer or their representative who may be the Principal or a senior member of staff of the school will seek to agree with each teacher the range of activities/duties which that teacher will undertake and the amount of time which that teacher will spend on each of these. However the final decision rests with the employing authority. In practice this will mean that each Principal will be responsible for determining a Time Budget for each member of staff. This will include the time which that teacher will spend in class contact hours, in supervising pupils (including cover for absent colleagues); in staff meetings, in meeting parents etc. Directed Time means time spent on any activity which the Principal has determined that teacher shall undertake. Directed time may not exceed 1,265 hours per year nor apply to more than 195 days per year. Principals will need to plan the use of the 1,265 hours carefully. If they do not there could be a real danger that staff will exhaust their obligatory hours before the end of the school year. It follows that while the spirit of the agreement is that Principals and each member of their staff should seek to reach agreement on a teacher’s Time Budget, teachers will not have freedom to decide for themselves how they allocate their time. It is the Principal’s responsibility to ensure that all that needs to be included in a Time Budget is included. It follows that each Principal will need to determine before the beginning of each academic year the number of meetings (of staff/parents etc) that he/she will require each teacher to attend and the length of those meetings.’ 

  • B – 21/3a – ‘The professional duties of a Principal shall include: Deploying and Managing all teaching and non-teaching staff of the school and allocating particular duties to them (including such duties of the Principal as may properly be delegated to the Vice-Principal or other members of the staff), in a manner consistent with their conditions of employment, maintaining a reasonable balance for each employee‘

  • TNC 2011/8 Appendix III Time Budgeting 1.3 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/de/tn2011-appendiiitime-budgeting.pdf – ‘The Principal is responsible for determining a time budget to each member of the teaching staff, giving due regard to the individual responsibilities of each teacher. The Principal should seek to agree with each teacher the range of activities/duties which that teacher will undertake and the amount of time which that teacher will spend on each of these.’

  • Agreement between Management and Trade Union Side of the Teachers’ Negotiating Committee TNC 2020/1 – 6 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/TNC%202020-1%20Agreement%20Between%20Management%20and%20Trade%20Union%20Side%20of%20the%20Teachers%20%20Negotiating%20Committee.pdf – ‘An annual schedule of meetings will be provided in advance of the academic year. Meetings for all staff, including those with teaching allowances will be accommodated within Directed Time budgets. The time spent on reporting to parents on the progress of their children will be included within Directed Time. An agreed framework will be put in place to consult on and workload assess all new initiatives and proposals which may increase teachers’ workload. Schools will use the period between the ratification of the agreement and the end of the 2019-20 school year to prepare for the implementation of the arrangements outlined above from the beginning of the 2020-21 academic year. This will include producing time budgets for each teacher for the 2020-21 school year.’ 

  • TNC 2024/2 Workload Agreement 1.1 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/TNC%202024-2%20%20Workload%20Agreemeent.pdf – ‘c. to ensure that members of staff are able to observe their contractual requirements, pursue their careers and undertake their day to day duties without unfair and unreasonable requirements being placed on them in relation to those duties and with sufficient time to enjoy a reasonable work/life balance; d. to protect and enhance the professional relationships within a school; e. to ensure that Boards of Governors as employers are aware of and in a position to meet their legal obligations with respect to employment matters and to operate within the spirit of the legislation governing Working Time and Health and Safety.

  • TNC 2024/2 Workload Agreement 3.1 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/TNC%202024-2%20%20Workload%20Agreemeent.pdf – Directed Time means time spent on any activity which the Principal has determined that Teacher shall undertake. A Teacher shall be available to perform such duties at such times and such places as may reasonably be specified by the Principal. All the time that a Teacher has to be on school premises is included in Directed Time. Time spent off school premises in preparing and marking lessons is not included in a Teacher’s Directed Time

  • TNC 2024/2 Workload Agreement 4.3 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/TNC%202024-2%20%20Workload%20Agreemeent.pdf -The Principal is responsible for determining a time budget to each member of the teaching staff, giving due regard to the individual responsibilities of each Teacher. The Principal should seek to agree with each Teacher the range of activities/duties which that Teacher will undertake and the amount of time which that Teacher will spend on each of these. The time budget should be distributed prior to the commencement of the teaching year

  • TNC 2024/2 Workload Agreement 5.1e https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/TNC%202024-2%20%20Workload%20Agreemeent.pdf – ‘There is a range of other professional activities that go on regularly within schools. If a Teacher is expected to carry out any duty that is deemed reasonable and in balance with the duties allocated to colleagues, then it must also be accounted for in the time budget. Due attention must be paid to ensure that there is work/life balance, in line with the Strategy for Teacher Health and Wellbeing in Northern Ireland (TNC 2011/1), particularly where a Teacher volunteers to take on additional duties on an unremunerated basis’

  • TNC 2024/2 Workload Agreement 5.2 https://www.education-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/education/TNC%202024-2%20%20Workload%20Agreemeent.pdf – ‘5.2 If a Teacher agrees to carry out these duties on a voluntary basis they will not count as directed time, however, if the duties are directed by the Principal then the hours fall under directed time. 5.3 Principals cannot direct Teachers to take pupils on educational visits involving overnight stays. Where this takes place on a voluntary basis it is a matter of negotiation between the Teacher and the Principal as to the amount of directed time which will be allocated to this activity out of the annual time budget. This should include an appropriate allocation of time for the organisation of such visits.’