Teachers and principals were yesterday given an improved package of pay and conditions that will enable them to take a year of unpaid leave at five-year intervals.

In a move to compete with large salaries and good incentives in the private sector, the Ministry of Education said it had agreed to the new benefits in a bid to retain teachers in the profession.

Yesterday morning, representatives from the Bermuda Union of Teachers (BUT) and the Association of School Principals (ASP) officially agreed to the deal, which also brings a three percent pay increase and additional days off with pay for long-serving staff.

Finalising the agreement, Education and Development Minister Paula Cox said she was glad the union negotiations had gone smoothly and had finally come to an end.

She said: “We have reached an agreement with both unions that recognises and rewards the dedication of our principals and teachers to Bermuda's students.

“I am pleased to announce that we have been able to agree a pay award of three percent from September 2001. In addition to the pay award, the agreement looks at a range of issues to improve working conditions for principals and teachers.”

She said a tiered system of leave had been agreed for principals and teachers, which will take into account years of service.

All teachers and principals who have contributed ten years will benefit from an increase in their personal leave allowance to at least two paid leave days, extending to a maximum of four days for those who have contributed 20 years or longer.

The Minister added: “In recognition of the increasing number of people coming into the teaching profession with other relevant work experience, we will now give credit for up to two years experience in the industrial, commercial of technological fields.

“It is our intention to look at imaginative ways in which we can offer principals and teachers flexibility. We are, therefore, investigating how to establish procedures for a deferred salary leave scheme.

“This allows principals and teachers to put salary aside over a period of four years to enable them to take the fifth year off.

“We have also increased the minimum number of sabbaticals awarded each year from two to four to enable teachers to upgrade their skills.”

And she said the Ministry was also committed to examining teachers' planning and preparation time with a view to jointly identifying and addressing problematic areas in the planning process.

Ms Cox said that enabling teachers to take a year off would provide them with opportunities to study further, gain experience abroad, write a book, or even relax.

She said the aim was to offer incentives to entice people into the profession, but also to prevent burn-out for those already there.

She said, obviously, there would be financial constraints, and only a certain number of teachers would be able to take leave at one time, but she said, with planning in each individual school, she believed it could work.

General Secretary of the BUT Michael Charles said he was pleased with the agreement.

“I think we are never totally happy about any set of negotiations because the document we always come out with is never like the set of proposals we first went in with,” he said.

“As in any negotiations, you have to give and take. But there are things that we have now got which we have been advocating for some time, such as the extra paid days off.

“It will enable teachers to go to their own children's graduations, and things like that, which in the past they have had difficulty with.”

And he said the Ministry, in a Memorandum of Understanding, had given an undertaking to look at improving the specialist disciplines, such as music, physical education and the arts, which will itself create additional time for teachers to prepare their lessons.

He said he hoped to see a better allocation of these subjects as early as September.

Mr. Charles added: “I think everybody always wants more money, but I think this pay increase is reasonable, bearing in mind the economic climate and the deferred leave plan could have some positive aspects.

“But it is going to depend on the personal circumstances of the teachers involved, and whether or not they can afford to save 25 percent of their salary for four years in order to have a year off.”

Alan Leigh, organiser of the ASP, said principals had unanimously agreed the deal and said they seemed happy with the present administration.

He added: “The Ministry seems to have done pretty much what we wanted, as far as the principals are concerned.

“There appears to be more consultation going on now, and teachers and principals feel more appreciated.”