Black hours are disappearing from circulation. But not the requirement of availability

• After three years of the regulations on hours of access introduced to schools and facilities by Minister Czarnek, the Ministry of National Education decides to abolish them.
• The decision is a response to widespread complaints from teachers and pressure from trade unionists.
• The voice of parents on this topic was not heard at all, because they were the ones who did not use them.

Now it is supposed to be different, although it is not entirely clear how. After all, one of the arguments for introducing black hours was to enable parents and students to have direct contact with the teacher at a designated time. So that the teacher cannot avoid talking about the problems of a given child with their parents or guardians and sit at school for at least one hour. To make sure that this will be the case, the provision was entered into Article 42 of the Teachers' Charter under paragraphs 2f and 2g, which reads:

In order to carry out other classes and activities resulting from the statutory tasks of the school, including care and educational activities that take into account the needs and interests of students, the teacher is obliged (paragraph 2f) to be available at school for 1 hour a week, and in the case of a teacher employed for less than 1/2 of the compulsory number of classes - for 1 hour within 2 weeks, during which, according to needs, he or she conducts consultations for students, pupils or their parents.

The provision of Article 42 paragraph 2g regulates the situation when this dimension of work is different.

Black hours came into effect on September 1, 2022. Signals from the community - apart from the natural reluctance to any change - have constantly confirmed that this was a bad idea.

The main point raised was that parents do not use this accessibility at all, which causes teachers to sit in empty classrooms at the designated time and waste their time. Because when there is a problem, they take remedial action anyway, because their work requires it.

The current MEN management was perfectly aware of this and immediately wrote a demand for the elimination of these hours on their banners. It is surprising that such a simple matter, consisting practically solely of eliminating the provisions added to art. 42 of the Human Rights Code from legal circulation, took them two years. And yet, that is not the end - because this is only the announcement of the change, although on the other hand, it should be expected that the parliament will not reject it.

What happened that finally decided on this simple change? It seems that the decisive factor in this respect was the results of the survey of the Polish Teachers' Union announced in May this year, which unequivocally showed that despite the statutory requirement for consultations, they were not taking place.

It covered 12,469 teachers, who almost unanimously (96%) stated that the hours of availability should be eliminated because neither the parents of students (79%) nor the students (75%) use them, and only half of the institutions have the conditions to implement them (45%). Moreover, the hours of availability did not facilitate contact between the school and parents (97%).

The study confirmed what the community has been saying loudly, that most parents are really not interested in what is happening to their children . Of course, some are, but they usually do not have and have never had a problem with reaching teachers. And this despite the fact that schools, by introducing blackout hours, have massively abandoned organizing so-called open houses, which until now took place practically every month.

The Ministry of National Education, justifying the purpose of introducing the change, very nicely pointed out that the abolition of the so-called black hours - i.e. the obligation of teachers to be constantly, weekly available at school at strictly defined hours - will allow for greater flexibility in the organization of teachers' working time, facilitating consultations and improving contact with students and parents.

The statement also added that consultations remain mandatory, but they can be conducted as part of other statutory classes and activities of the school adapted to the needs of students and the capabilities of teachers, as well as that the abolition of the obligation to set and supervise fixed hours of availability for teachers will reduce the organizational burden on principals.

What does this mean? Will anything change as a result of this change? Basically nothing, because the obligation to consult has always existed. Will teachers now become available to students and parents at any time? Not necessarily.

As for students, their problems are tried to be solved by their homeroom teacher or school in general. So in their case nothing will change - teachers will be available to them, at least to the same extent as today, during the blackout hours, which, by the way, they rarely used. In the case of parents - yes, but only theoretically.

Because it is hard to imagine that consultations with parents would take place at any time of day or on an ongoing basis. Especially since it is not possible during classes, it is not possible during breaks between classes , because then they are usually on duty in the corridors, and it is not always possible after classes, because teachers are not obliged to stay at school after classes , e.g. after 1 p.m. or 3 p.m. Of course, it can happen, but it will definitely be possible after arranging a meeting date in advance.

So yes, such consultations can take place in crisis situations, especially when a teacher calls a parent. However, in situations that do not require urgent intervention - usually during so-called open days, which before the introduction of blackout hours were usually held once a month or in those months when there are no meetings with parents, as well as during meetings with parents.

The only problem that may be associated with the above change is the need to record unlimited consultations with parents, but in this broader context - to settle teachers' working time, and consequently overtime , for which teachers are also entitled to remuneration.

According to Sławomir Wittkowicz, chairman of the Free Trade Union "Forum - Oświata", teachers will have to watch over these hours , because the ministry, introducing this change consisting in deleting the provision on hours of availability, does not offer anything in return. And this means that now principals will put pressure on teachers to meet with parents as often as possible, but God forbid they ask for overtime pay.

We cannot expect that the teaching profession will be the only profession in which working time does not matter and that the teacher will conduct consultations regardless of the working time required

- he states.

It should also be added that although the discussion on how to actually measure these hours has reached a standstill, it will certainly continue. Its effect will be the way in which a teacher's working time is recorded in order to determine whether in a given month they have exceeded the 40-hour work week or not. The question therefore remains how this will be resolved.