24 hours in primary, 60 hours in senior classes: how will computer science lessons be distributed?

Question

I am the head of the Methodological Association for Exact Sciences. I would like to ask about the distribution of teaching hours at our school. There are a total of 60 hours of Informatics lessons in the upper grades and 24 hours in the primary grades. We have a total of five Informatics teachers.

Three of them hold a Category II qualification, while two are specialist teachers without a qualification category. At present, the trade union and the deputy principal responsible for primary education are saying that the 60 hours should be distributed among the Informatics teachers and that we cannot receive any lessons from the primary grades.

In that case, if the three teachers with a qualification category receive one full teaching load each, where will the two specialist teachers get their teaching hours from? I would appreciate your assistance regarding this matter.

Answer

In general education schools, teaching hours are distributed according to the priority sequence established in Clause 15 of the Regulation “On the Procedure for Class Formation and the Preparation of Staffing and Tariff Lists in General Education Institutions.”

According to the order of the Ministry of Preschool and School Education approving the basic curricula for general secondary education institutions for the 2026–2027 academic year, the subject “Informatics and Information Technologies” is taught in Grades 1–4 by primary school teachers, as the subject is aimed at developing students’ logical and systematic thinking.

However, in some regions, there have also been cases where, as an exception, the “Informatics and Information Technologies” lessons in Grades 1–4 have been assigned to upper-grade teachers. 

In other words, if an upper-grade teacher who teaches this subject also has a qualification in primary education or has received training in the methodology of teaching the relevant subject in primary grades, they may also be assigned a certain number of the available “Informatics and Information Technologies” lessons in primary grades, taking into account the relevant indicators of the teachers.

If they do not have such a qualification or training, they cannot claim the “Informatics and Information Technologies” lessons in primary grades. This is because Clause 15 of the Regulation on the distribution of teaching hours (registered on June 30, 2020, under registration No. 3271) stipulates that, when distributing teaching hours for subjects taught in primary grades, consideration must be given to whether teachers have a qualification in primary education or, respectively, have received training in the methodology of teaching the relevant subject in primary grades.

This provision was introduced by the Ministry of Preschool and School Education in order to improve the quality of education and upbringing while taking into account the age and psychological characteristics of primary school pupils, as well as to eliminate disagreements in the distribution of teaching hours. The process by which children aged 7–10 perceive concepts and master subjects differs fundamentally from that of upper-grade students.

Subjects taught in primary school, including “Informatics and Information Technologies,” also require specific primary education teaching methodology. Therefore, in this situation, if an upper-grade Informatics teacher does not have a qualification in primary education or has not received training in the methodology of teaching the relevant subject in primary grades, they cannot claim teaching hours for “Informatics and Information Technologies” in primary grades.

In this regard, neither the teacher’s qualification in “Informatics and Information Technologies” nor their higher qualification category changes this requirement.

Therefore, the 24 hours of “Informatics and Information Technologies” lessons in Grades 1–4 should be distributed only among primary school teachers, while the 60 hours available in the upper grades should be distributed among the five upper-grade Informatics teachers in accordance with the priority sequence established in Clause 15 of the Regulation on the Procedure for Class Formation and the Preparation of Staffing and Tariff Lists.

In this case, the three teachers holding Category II qualifications should be assigned equal and maximum numbers of teaching hours, while the remaining teaching hours should be distributed equally between the two specialist teachers.

In this situation, however, it would not be possible to distribute 20 teaching hours to each of the three Category II teachers. Although legislation allows teachers to work up to 1.5 teaching loads, this cannot be done at the expense of leaving another teacher at the educational institution without work.

The Regulation on the distribution of teaching hours does not contain a provision requiring teachers with priority status to be assigned exactly 1.5 teaching loads (30 hours). If we examine the provisions of the Regulation concerning the priority sequence, it recommends that the maximum number of teaching hours be assigned to teachers who have priority under the established sequence.

The term “maximum number” does not mean that exactly 30 or 20 hours must be assigned. Rather, it means that teachers with the highest relevant indicators may be assigned more teaching hours than teachers with lower or no relevant indicators.

The school principal cannot assign 20 hours to the three teachers with higher qualification categories simply to ensure that they receive the maximum number of hours, if doing so would leave other teachers without work. Labour legislation does not permit this, as the principal, acting as the employer, is also obliged to respect the labour rights of other employees.

In other words, when distributing teaching hours, the school principal must not violate the labour rights of other employees. The fact that a teacher without a qualification category has not been allocated sufficient teaching hours cannot, in itself, serve as grounds for terminating their employment contract.

How should the teaching hours be distributed among the five teachers?

The Regulation on the Procedure for Class Formation and the Preparation of Staffing and Tariff Lists does not specify exactly how many teaching hours must be allocated between teachers belonging to different levels of priority.

In other words, teachers with a higher level of priority should be assigned the maximum number of teaching hours, while teachers who do not have the relevant indicators should also be assigned a certain number of teaching hours. However, the exact number of hours to be assigned is determined by the Pedagogical Council.

Teachers have the right to submit a request to increase the number of teaching hours assigned to them. However, the Pedagogical Council should consider the applicant’s active participation in educational, spiritual and educational, scientific-methodological, and experimental activities, as well as other relevant indicators, before making a decision on the fair distribution of teaching hours.