Unions denounce the "poor planning" of Education with Infant Education technician positions

PalmaThe ANPE and STEI unions have criticized this Tuesday the management of the Ministry of Education in the awarding of positions for Early Childhood Education Technicians (TEI) and have denounced a lack of planning that, according to the organizations, harms both professionals and children.

ANPE has questioned that Education has opened a second ordinary process with eleven new TEI positions, with incorporation planned for September 1, only one week after the first procedure, in which 10 were offered.

Of the eleven new positions, seven have a duration of nine months and four are vacancies with contracts of up to three years. Precisely these four positions are the ones that have generated ANPE's main criticisms. According to the union, these vacancies should have been included in the first call so that all members of the registry could apply for them according to their score.

ANPE warns that applicants with high scores who participated in the first process and obtained a nine-month position can no longer participate in the second procedure. In this way, they would be left without the possibility of applying for the new vacancies, even if their position on the registry gave them priority. For the union, this situation is a consequence of a "lack of planning" by the Ministry and can cause inequalities among applicants.

STEI speaks of an "irreversible disaster"

The STEI has also lashed out at the management of TEI positions and has described the situation as an "irreversible disaster". According to the union, it was planned that at the end of July 49 vacant positions would be announced for the entire academic year, but as of this Tuesday, only 20 have been awarded.

Of the 20 awarded positions, 16 have been filled through appointments due to production circumstances, a contractual formula that, according to the STEI, "harms both children and professionals". These contracts have a duration of nine months, meaning that, according to the union, the classrooms will be without these professionals from June 1st. The remaining four positions correspond to vacancies.

The STEI denounces that TEIs, who have long been demanding access to jobs with stable conditions, are condemned by this system to "precariousness, temporality, and instability". The union also rejects the Ministry's attribution of the problems to IT issues. According to the STEI, the positions have been created and budgetarily funded for months and, therefore, it demands that Education "do things properly". According to the data consulted by the union organization, there would still be around 33 TEI positions to be awarded for the entire academic year. The STEI demands that these appointments be made as interim positions and not as nine-month vacancies, with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of professionals and attention to students throughout the entire academic year.