THE AGE-old teachers’ waiting list for posts is currently creaking under the weight of some 35,000 names, with almost a quarter of them believed to be Greek nationals.
The recent influx of Greeks seeking teaching jobs in Cyprus is also complicating the Education Ministry’s attempts to modernise the system and reduce the number of candidates waiting for a job in public education by making appointments more selective.
As the unique system for teacher appointments now stands, graduates in any field can add their name to a list and be appointed as their name moves up the list. In some cases, candidates can be just a year or two from retirement before they are called up for employment.
In an effort to whittle down the 35,600-odd names waiting for appointment, the ministry has suggested a number of changes to the list system, including the introduction of an exam, which will count for 30 out of 73 possible evaluation points.
The proposal has been rejected by a group of around 6,000 of those graduates who have yet to secure full state-teaching jobs and have organised themselves into ‘The Non-Appointed Teachers Movement’.
They argue the ministry’s plans undermine the various degrees a teaching candidate already has, as well as placing too much emphasis on the exam, giving it a “determining” role in a teacher’s appointment.
“An exam can’t be a criterion of the candidate’s capability to teach,” the movement said in a statement last week.
In other words, the movement believes this can only truly be tested in the classroom.
The other issue, of course, is the extra competition posed by applicants from Greece, following Cyprus’ EU entry and especially since the recent dire economic crisis in Greece.
“In the event that (the proposal) is adopted, in a few years we will have a different list in place of the old one, but instead of 25,000-30,000 non-appointed teachers, there could even be 100,000,” the movement announced.
An additional worry is that as the retirement age is extended to 63, there will be an increasing number of teacher candidates as fewer teachers leave the system through retirement. Only a few hundred permanent posts were opened last year.
The movement’s secretary, Marios Thoma, told the Sunday Mail that 260,000 Greeks took exams for jobs in the Greek public education system last year. The movement estimates that thousands of these will also apply for jobs in Cyprus, resulting in perhaps 100,000 people fighting for 100 places a year, he said.
Thoma was also critical of other proposed new criteria which would take into consideration the year that you received your diploma instead of the year that you submitted your application to be appointed.
For example Thoma, who studied physical education (PE) and got his degree in 1992, remains on the list of non-appointed teachers. There are over 2,000 candidate PE teachers waiting on the list. The 42-year-old submitted his application the same year as he got his degree and has been on the list for 19 years.
Under the proposed system, he argued, if an EU national for example decided to apply tomorrow and also happened to get his degree in 1992, he would get the same points as Thoma despite being new to the list.
While the movement agrees the list needs to be updated, they think the ministry is going about it the wrong way and suggests its own “points system” which it feels will be fairer to those who’ve been languishing on the old list.
So has the situation led to any animosity towards Greek candidates? They are the only EU nationals that are in a perfect position to take advantage of the free movement of labour, given the Greek language criteria for working here. The good working conditions, salaries and benefits afforded public teachers is a major part of the attraction for Greek candidates who are often working on salaries in Greece half that of their Cypriot colleagues.
Thoma was quick to rule out any bitterness.
“The Greeks are our brothers. We have no problem with them or EU nationals. If only we could employ them all until the economic problems in Greece improve we would. Our problem is with the ministry proposal,” said Thoma.
“We want a system which doesn’t turn people who’ve been waiting 10-15 years on the list into victims through no fault of their own,” he said.
The Sunday Mail spoke to two Greek physics teachers who were recently appointed to the Cyprus education system. They both put their names on the teaching list in 2005 and were informed last April they had jobs. Last September they enrolled on the eight-month pre-appointment training programme. Of the 18 physics teacher candidates on the course, only two were Cypriot, the remainder Greek.
According to the Cyprus Educational Commission website, as of February 28, 2011, there were 1,060 physics teachers on the waiting list.
The oldest person, who is 286 on the physics list, is 59 years old.
Anastasia Korre, 35, said she has never heard any complaints from her Cypriot trainers or colleagues about her appointment.
“It was a very good experience, there was a very positive attitude from the trainers,” she said.
When Korre applied for the Cyprus job in 2005, Greek teachers who were appointed in Cyprus could work for a few years and would have a position guaranteed on their return.
That system has now been scrapped as the system can’t absorb all the returning teachers. Now, candidates have to compete by exam.
“In Greece, the waiting list is even bigger than in Cyprus. I wanted to keep my options open. The salary is almost double that of Greece,” she said.
While she had mixed feelings about coming, the timing appeared to be right.
“Greece is in a very difficult situation now. The law changed, meaning that while I was previously on the verge of getting appointed given my past experience, the new law doesn’t recognise that, making appointment by examination only, which is extremely difficult and competitive.”
Korre was one of 4,500 physics teachers competing for around 100 positions in Greece.
Georgios Levendis, also 35, said he applied in Cyprus because he was “knocking on any door that might open”.
He noted that the Cypriot waiting list did not put him off, as the situation in Greece was no better.
“The difference is huge. It’s very obvious,” he said, commenting on working conditions, salaries and benefits in the Cypriot system.
“At this age, it’s not the easiest thing to get up and leave but [I] have clear career prospects and a lot of uncertainty in Greece,” he said.
He doesn’t anticipate finding living in Cyprus difficult. “I don’t see Cyprus as a foreign country, it’s like going to a village in Crete where they have a different dialect, that’s all.”
While he could understand if Cypriot colleagues felt hard done by, Levendis said he never received a negative comment from anyone.
“We fulfilled the criteria and did things the proper way,” he said. “We didn’t try to step over someone to get in.”
