There will be no appointments made this year for the role of executive teacher, says Permanent Secretary for Education, Heritage and Arts Alison Burchell.

Ms Burchell made it known in a statement that the decision was in line with the ministry’s move to ensure correct staffing of schools.

Executive teachers are an equivalent to a vice principal or assistant head teacher. This role is commonly found in small primary schools.

The statement added that executive teachers provided mentoring and coaching support for teachers in schools to assist the head teacher, a role which rightly belonged to the head teacher as the supervisor and is also included in the role description of fully qualified Teacher (band F) and Assistant Teacher (band E).

Ms Burchell stressed that teachers who previously held the post should not expect any allowance payment this year following the advice from the Civil Service Reform Management Unit to abolish the role in late 2017.

She said last year the ministry paid the allowance because many teachers had been informed that they were executive teachers, however this would not be continued this year.

“Head Teachers in schools who have previously had an executive teacher should ensure all teachers are informed and that no teacher should have an expectation of receiving an Executive Teacher Allowance payment in 2019,” the statement said.

“The Ministry’s HR Department is continuing to work on formalising school staffing arrangements for 2019. However, I would like to ensure that all schools are aware that no Executive Teacher appointments will be made in 2019, to avoid teachers being disappointed when payment is not made.”

Edited by Naisa Koroi

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