Non-EU classroom experience not always reflected in pay when moving home, says teacher

This is the system used to determine teachers’ salary scales. History teacher Stephen Magrath returned from Abu Dhabi with his wife to Ireland three years ago.

The couple first moved to London in 2013, where they stayed for three years teaching before moving to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

After returning, the couple’s experience working in London was recognised by the Department of Education and reflected in their incremental credit. However, their experience teaching for five years in the UAE was not.

“It's a big financial burden for me and my wife because all together that’s 10 years of experience, which impacts our salary scale and our pension as well,” Mr Magrath told the Irish Examiner. 

“As a result of our five years in Abu Dhabi not being approved, we’re down about €10,000 each every single year — so its €20,000 altogether for our household.

It's really such a huge deterrent for teachers who want to move home from the likes of Abu Dhabi

"It's affecting any of us who would have worked in the private schools in the UAE and anywhere outside of the EU.

“The view the Department of Education is that if you worked in a private school outside of the EU, they are not going to recognise your years of experience working abroad — which we find ridiculous. It doesn’t make sense.” 

Private school experience

One of the most frustrating aspects is that teachers who worked in private primary schools in the UAE seem to have their experience factored into their incremental credit, he added.

“The department recognises those years no problem. As you can imagine, that’s very frustrating for a lot of us in the teaching profession. 

Where it gets even more frustrating is that some secondary school teachers returning from Dubai and Abu Dhabi are getting approved and some aren’t

“When you query that with the Department of Education, they say that if the school receives any government funding then it will be approved. 

"However, if it is fully private, they are not going to give you the years. [This] will really impact on your salary scale. That really frustrates a lot of us because the really high achieving schools in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the private schools.

"We’re bringing back the experience from working with departmental teams in the best schools, and bringing home advantageous experience that can contribute to the school system at home. 

“We’re in the midst of a teacher supply crisis, it’s completely nonsensical to not grant those years of experience. 

There’s no incentive to get teachers home when we need teachers, and it's teachers who have so much valuable experience to bring back to the system as well

The Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) said Irish teachers returning from jurisdictions such as Dubai and Australia must be awarded full incremental credit.

A spokesman for the Department of Education confirmed that post-primary school teachers who work in a private school in a non-EU country, not in receipt of public funding, are not eligible for incremental credit. 

"Criteria for the awarding of incremental credit for teaching service abroad are being reviewed with a view to harmonising the arrangements for primary and post-primary teachers," the spokesperson added.