ANPE Canarias, the first union of teachers of non-university public education in the Islands, has presented to the Ministry of Education a package of measures to "defend" the interim teachers who provide services in the Archipelago and face the future of the "teaching stabilization with guarantees" for this group.
For the trade union organization, the objective must be twofold: on the one hand, "to ensure that those who have teaching experience in public schools in the Islands and do not obtain a place in the stabilization procedures that are currently underway can continue working"; on the other hand, to promote the "real stabilization of interim teachers" taking into account the specificities of the Canary Islands.
The president of ANPE Canarias, Pedro Crespo, argues that the "paralysis of the processes in progress is not a viable alternative, as it would lead to a dead end", and stresses that we must "focus on actions that offer real guarantees to interim teachers." In this sense, Crespo demands a "formal commitment" from the Ministry so that no teacher with experience is "left without a job" in the Islands, something that, he assures, "is perfectly viable, given that, once the current processes are resolved, there will still be a high number of vacancies, which must be filled through the lists of temporary staff." Thus, he advocates "establishing mechanisms to make these lists as fixed as possible", as well as "reducing ratios, extending shared teaching and increasing teaching hours for programs and projects in order to guarantee that there are enough positions".
In the case of those specialties whose teachers in an interim situation are most affected by the current stabilization procedures, Crespo asks that "specific solutions" be articulated, through "increases in places, splits and other measures that are adjusted to each situation, such as the expansion of the training offer of certain Vocational Training courses".
Looking ahead, ANPE Canarias asks the regional Executive to urge the State Government to promote new stabilization processes adapted to the particularities of the education system and the singularities of each territory, so as to allow and promote mechanisms for interim teachers to stabilize in the autonomous community in which they work. Crespo proposes introducing in the future merit competitions "a mandatory face-to-face act in which the specific contents to be taught in the autonomous community are reported".
Likewise, he proposes that greater score be given in the scale to the oppositions approved in the community convening the process and to the courses taught by the corresponding Ministry of Education, as well as that the participation in educational programs and projects exclusive to that territorial scope be valued. The union leader recalls that several of these proposals were already raised by
ANPE for the current stabilization processes, but did not go ahead. In this sense, he stresses that the "social outcry" generated as a result of the provisional results of the merit competition should be a "turning point" in the position maintained by the administrations.
The teachers' union believes that the State Government should be required to study in depth the judgments on the stability of interim staff that the Court of Justice of the European Union may issue in the near future, in order to ensure that they are complied with with all legal guarantees, as well as to involve the legal services of the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands in that task of analysis and preparation of reports on European judgments.
Crespo points out that there are also other measures that the Canarian Administration can take from now on to favor the stabilization possibilities of the interim teachers who provide services in the Archipelago. Among them, he highlights maintaining and strengthening the program to improve the stability of unstable teaching staffs, extending to July and August the appointments that last at least 5 and a half months in each course so that they count as pointable teaching experience in the selective processes, as happens in other communities and also count as teaching experience the vacation days that correspond to the interim teachers once their appointment ends.
In ANPE's opinion, the best way to face all these challenges is to do so from trade union and parliamentary unity. For this reason, Crespo stresses that all efforts must be made to ensure that the Government of the Canary Islands, the representation of teachers and the regional Parliament join forces in order to face with the greatest possible guarantees of success the future of the stabilization of interim teaching staff in the Archipelago.
