Direct teaching activities together with indirect activities make up the total working time of teaching staff. At the outset, it is useful to define who is considered to be a teaching staff member carrying out direct teaching activities. It is therefore necessary to clarify who the law considers to be a teaching worker and what activities fall under direct and indirect teaching work before analysing the issue of working time allocation.
Who is considered a teaching staff member
A pedagogical worker is a person who carries out direct teaching, direct educational, direct special pedagogical or direct pedagogical-psychological activity by direct action on the person being educated, through whom he/she carries out education and training on the basis of a special legal regulation (direct pedagogical activity). A pedagogical worker is also an employee who carries out direct pedagogical activities in a social services establishment.
Teaching staff who carry out direct teaching activities under the Teaching Staff Act include:
- Teacher,
- teacher at a teacher training centre,
- Educator,
- special educator,
- school speech therapist,
- psychologist,
- leisure educator,
- Teaching assistant,
- Coach,
- prevention methodologist at the pedagogical-psychological counselling centre,
- senior teaching staff.
The list will be expanded to include social educators by an amendment to the Act effective 1 January 2026.
Teaching staff who carry out direct teaching activities under the Teaching Staff Act include:
- Teacher,
- teacher at a teacher training centre,
- Educator,
- special educator,
- school speech therapist,
- psychologist,
- leisure educator,
- Teaching assistant,
- Coach,
- prevention methodologist at the pedagogical-psychological counselling centre,
- senior teaching staff.
The list will be expanded to include social educators by an amendment to the Act effective 1 January 2026.
Direct teaching activity
Direct teaching activity is an activity in which the teaching staff member directly influences the learner. It includes, for example, the following activities:
- teaching pupils and students in the classroom
- conducting and tutoring extracurricular activities (e.g. after-school clubs, clubs)
- activities of teaching assistants in the classroom
- group and individual work with pupils (e.g. tutoring)
- conducting practice and practical teaching of pupils and students
From the point of view of working hours, it must be emphasised that a teaching staff member is obliged to be at the employer's workplace at the times specified in the timetable of his or her direct teaching activities (Section 22a of Act No.563/2004 Coll., on teaching staff).
- teaching pupils and students in the classroom
- conducting and tutoring extracurricular activities (e.g. after-school clubs, clubs)
- activities of teaching assistants in the classroom
- group and individual work with pupils (e.g. tutoring)
- conducting practice and practical teaching of pupils and students
From the point of view of working hours, it must be emphasised that a teaching staff member is obliged to be at the employer's workplace at the times specified in the timetable of his or her direct teaching activities (Section 22a of Act No.563/2004 Coll., on teaching staff).
Indirect teaching activity
The working hours of a teaching staff member are supplemented by indirect teaching activities in addition to direct teaching activities. This includes those activities where the teaching staff member does not act directly on the learner. These include:
- Preparation for class, preparation of aids
- Checking pupils' and students' work, marking, correcting work
- Administrative activities
- Interaction and consultation with parents
- Preparation of training plans
- Preparation for class, preparation of aids
- Checking pupils' and students' work, marking, correcting work
- Administrative activities
- Interaction and consultation with parents
- Preparation of training plans
Working hours of teaching staff
The working hours of teaching staff are scheduled by the head of the school or educational establishment for the school year or for each term. As is clear from the above, the working time of teaching staff consists of two parts, namely
- direct pedagogical activity
- indirect teaching activities.
It is not possible to separate the two parts and the direct pedagogical activity of the teaching staff member must always be complemented by indirect pedagogical activity. It is therefore not possible to negotiate an employment relationship with a teaching staff member which consists solely of direct teaching activity, but the employment relationship must include a period of indirect teaching activity. This means that, in the case of teaching staff, the agreed working time between the employee and the employer must always consist of both direct teaching activity and indirect teaching activity.
The determination of the scope of direct pedagogical activities is based on Government Regulation No.75/2005 Coll., on the determination of the scope of direct teaching, direct educational, direct special pedagogical and direct pedagogical-psychological activities of pedagogical staff. The scope of hours of direct pedagogical activity is set out in the Annex to the above-mentioned Government Decree and is determined for teaching staff by type of school establishment.
For some teaching staff, the direct teaching activity is fixed, for others the range of hours of direct teaching activity is fixed.
Example:
A kindergarten teacher's weekly direct teaching activity is set by government regulation at 31 hours at full-time. This means that his indirect teaching activity will be 9 hours per week.
If a government regulation provides for direct pedagogical activity for a pedagogical worker within a range, the director of the educational establishment shall determine the direct pedagogical activity for the entire calendar year or semester by the number of hours of direct pedagogical activity within this range. Once the direct teaching activity has been set for a pedagogical staff member, it cannot be changed during the school year or semester according to the actual need and situation, even if the scope of the direct teaching activity is within the range set by the government regulation.
Example:
A teacher in a school day care centre has a direct teaching activity set by government regulation in the range of 28 to 30 hours. The school headmaster shall assign a direct teaching activity of 28 hours to a boarding school teacher for the entire school year. During the school year, another educator falls ill on a long-term basis and he would need to temporarily increase his direct teaching activity for capacity reasons. However, he cannot increase the temporary FTE to 30 hours per week, even though it is within the scope of the regulation.
In practice, the situation often arises when a teaching staff member does not perform his/her work within the scope of the fixed weekly working hours, but has shorter weekly working hours agreed with his/her employer. In such a case, his direct teaching activity is proportionally reduced and, consequently, indirect teaching activity must be established.
Example:
The weekly working hours of a school day care teacher are half of the weekly working hours. Direct teaching activity at this time is set at 14 hours per week. His indirect teaching activity will therefore be 6 hours.
Example:
The director of the kindergarten hired a teacher to cover 8 hours of direct teaching. The direct teaching activity for the kindergarten teacher is 31 hours per week full time.
Calculate the proportional part:
8/31 = 0,26
0,26 x 40 = 10,4
The teacher will have a weekly working time of 10.4 hours, including 8 hours of direct teaching and 2.4 hours of indirect teaching. Her working time will be 0.26.
- direct pedagogical activity
- indirect teaching activities.
It is not possible to separate the two parts and the direct pedagogical activity of the teaching staff member must always be complemented by indirect pedagogical activity. It is therefore not possible to negotiate an employment relationship with a teaching staff member which consists solely of direct teaching activity, but the employment relationship must include a period of indirect teaching activity. This means that, in the case of teaching staff, the agreed working time between the employee and the employer must always consist of both direct teaching activity and indirect teaching activity.
The determination of the scope of direct pedagogical activities is based on Government Regulation No.75/2005 Coll., on the determination of the scope of direct teaching, direct educational, direct special pedagogical and direct pedagogical-psychological activities of pedagogical staff. The scope of hours of direct pedagogical activity is set out in the Annex to the above-mentioned Government Decree and is determined for teaching staff by type of school establishment.
For some teaching staff, the direct teaching activity is fixed, for others the range of hours of direct teaching activity is fixed.
Example:
A kindergarten teacher's weekly direct teaching activity is set by government regulation at 31 hours at full-time. This means that his indirect teaching activity will be 9 hours per week.
If a government regulation provides for direct pedagogical activity for a pedagogical worker within a range, the director of the educational establishment shall determine the direct pedagogical activity for the entire calendar year or semester by the number of hours of direct pedagogical activity within this range. Once the direct teaching activity has been set for a pedagogical staff member, it cannot be changed during the school year or semester according to the actual need and situation, even if the scope of the direct teaching activity is within the range set by the government regulation.
Example:
A teacher in a school day care centre has a direct teaching activity set by government regulation in the range of 28 to 30 hours. The school headmaster shall assign a direct teaching activity of 28 hours to a boarding school teacher for the entire school year. During the school year, another educator falls ill on a long-term basis and he would need to temporarily increase his direct teaching activity for capacity reasons. However, he cannot increase the temporary FTE to 30 hours per week, even though it is within the scope of the regulation.
In practice, the situation often arises when a teaching staff member does not perform his/her work within the scope of the fixed weekly working hours, but has shorter weekly working hours agreed with his/her employer. In such a case, his direct teaching activity is proportionally reduced and, consequently, indirect teaching activity must be established.
Example:
The weekly working hours of a school day care teacher are half of the weekly working hours. Direct teaching activity at this time is set at 14 hours per week. His indirect teaching activity will therefore be 6 hours.
Example:
The director of the kindergarten hired a teacher to cover 8 hours of direct teaching. The direct teaching activity for the kindergarten teacher is 31 hours per week full time.
Calculate the proportional part:
8/31 = 0,26
0,26 x 40 = 10,4
The teacher will have a weekly working time of 10.4 hours, including 8 hours of direct teaching and 2.4 hours of indirect teaching. Her working time will be 0.26.
Method of scheduling the working time of teaching staff
The employer determines the working time schedule and is also obliged to draw up a written schedule and make it known to the employee.
When planning the working time of a teaching staff member, it is necessary to base the scheduling of his/her direct teaching activities.
The specific form of the timetable may take different forms, but the key is to follow the timetable of direct teaching activity, which is for the most part fixed by teaching.
The Teaching Staff Act, specifically Section 22a(2), provides that a teaching staff member is obliged to be present at the employer's workplace at the times specified in the timetable for his or her direct teaching activities, at the times scheduled for supervision of children and pupils, when substituting for another teaching staff member and in cases determined by the employer in accordance with the Labour Code.Such cases may include, for example, attendance at jointly scheduled meetings.
Activities other than those listed in the preceding paragraph may be carried out by the teaching staff member during his/her own working hours and at a location of his/her choice. As mentioned above, the scheduling of working time is determined by the employer and therefore the rule set out in section 22a(3) of the Act can only be applied if the Director does not decide to carry out the work at the employer's workplace.
The distribution of working time may be even or uneven, but the above rules must always be followed.
Example:
The primary school teacher (direct teaching activity is set at 22 hours per week by government regulation) works full-time and has a regular working time schedule - 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day. The working time is based first on the timetable for direct teaching activities, which will then be supplemented by indirect teaching activities.
Monday - 4 hours PPH - 4 hours NPH
Tuesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Wednesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Thursday - 4 hours PPČ -4 hours NPČ
Friday - 2 hours PPČ - 6 hours NPČ
In the case of this employee, the direct teaching activity could be divided from Monday to Thursday and the working time distribution could look like this:
Monday - 6 hours M-F - 2 hours N-F
Tuesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Wednesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Thursday - 4 hours PPČ - 4 hours NPČ
Friday - 8 am NPC
It is therefore evident that the distribution of working time can take different forms. However, the timetable for direct teaching activities should always be based on the needs of the employer.
When planning the working time of a teaching staff member, it is necessary to base the scheduling of his/her direct teaching activities.
The specific form of the timetable may take different forms, but the key is to follow the timetable of direct teaching activity, which is for the most part fixed by teaching.
The Teaching Staff Act, specifically Section 22a(2), provides that a teaching staff member is obliged to be present at the employer's workplace at the times specified in the timetable for his or her direct teaching activities, at the times scheduled for supervision of children and pupils, when substituting for another teaching staff member and in cases determined by the employer in accordance with the Labour Code.Such cases may include, for example, attendance at jointly scheduled meetings.
Activities other than those listed in the preceding paragraph may be carried out by the teaching staff member during his/her own working hours and at a location of his/her choice. As mentioned above, the scheduling of working time is determined by the employer and therefore the rule set out in section 22a(3) of the Act can only be applied if the Director does not decide to carry out the work at the employer's workplace.
The distribution of working time may be even or uneven, but the above rules must always be followed.
Example:
The primary school teacher (direct teaching activity is set at 22 hours per week by government regulation) works full-time and has a regular working time schedule - 40 hours per week, 8 hours per day. The working time is based first on the timetable for direct teaching activities, which will then be supplemented by indirect teaching activities.
Monday - 4 hours PPH - 4 hours NPH
Tuesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Wednesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Thursday - 4 hours PPČ -4 hours NPČ
Friday - 2 hours PPČ - 6 hours NPČ
In the case of this employee, the direct teaching activity could be divided from Monday to Thursday and the working time distribution could look like this:
Monday - 6 hours M-F - 2 hours N-F
Tuesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Wednesday - 6 hours PPČ - 2 hours NPČ
Thursday - 4 hours PPČ - 4 hours NPČ
Friday - 8 am NPC
It is therefore evident that the distribution of working time can take different forms. However, the timetable for direct teaching activities should always be based on the needs of the employer.
Other aspects of working time scheduling
Whether a teaching staff member works on a regular or irregular schedule, whether he or she has agreed with the employer to work a fixed weekly working time or less, it is always necessary to have a written weekly working time schedule (Section 84 of the Labour Code).
An important reason is the possibility of taking various absences and obstacles at work, such as holidays, personal obstacles, temporary disability and the related payment of compensation or taking holiday entitlement.
An important reason is the possibility of taking various absences and obstacles at work, such as holidays, personal obstacles, temporary disability and the related payment of compensation or taking holiday entitlement.
