ABSTRACT

Litigation concerned with the rights and duties of teachers, is not a uniquely modern phenomenon. Thus teachers, dismayed at the comparative erosion of their status and salaries, have become increasingly disenchanted and more willing to insist on their full legal rights with a corresponding reluctance to have additional "voluntary" duties foisted upon them. Teachers have a sophisticated system of salary scales fixed by the Burnham Committee under the auspices of the Remuneration of Teachers Act 1965. In serious cases where a teacher has suffered injury due to an unexpected assault from a rogue pupil a claim for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme should be considered. The statutory entitlement which might be relevant to teachers is the right to take time off work to attend to public or trade union duties. A new teacher would normally be expected to serve a probationary period of one year. Thus non renewal of the particular teacher's contract could constitute unfair dismissal.