Enhancing the profession

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Media Release

14 May 2004
Enhancing the profession

Making secondary teaching more attractive and rewarding and building on the quality of our teachers’ skills are key objectives of PPTA’s Secondary and Area Schools’ Collective Agreement claims lodged today with the Ministry of Education.

PPTA president Phil Smith said the package, overwhelmingly endorsed by secondary teachers, was designed to address the most significant issues currently facing secondary teaching - recruitment, retention and workload.

“If we are to improve recruitment and retention, clearly we need to enhance conditions so that new graduates see teaching as a viable career choice and those already in the profession see it as an attractive career with a future,” he said.

“The package is designed to enhance the status of the profession by making the job more manageable and more attractive for teachers and by providing more opportunities for professional development to enable them to improve the education of our students.”

Mr Smith said PPTA’s approach was underpinned by both extensive membership consultation and the recommendations of last year’s Ministerial Taskforce on Secondary Teachers’ Remuneration.

“The Taskforce considered that the secondary sector in New Zealand needed a remuneration system that both attracts a regular supply of appropriately trained and qualified secondary teachers, and supports and builds on the effectiveness of the teaching force.

“However, many of our schools are still struggling to fill key positions. Principals express ongoing concerns about both the decline in applications from trained New Zealand teachers and, when there are applications, the lack of suitable ones. In some schools, teachers are also having to teach outside their specialist area because of shortages. Keeping teaching competitive with other occupations over the long term is a vital part of reversing this situation.”

He said the Taskforce also noted the need for a settled industrial environment as a pre-requisite to implementing its longer term recommendations on secondary teacher pay and conditions.

In response to that, PPTA and the Ministry had been working on an alternative approach to negotiating that, if accepted by both Government and secondary teachers, might mean that some items could be dealt with over a longer time frame than the traditional industrial processes permitted. Such a new approach would require a significant demonstration of goodwill from both sides, he said.

“We believe that if both parties follow this approach we can avoid the protracted and bitter dispute of 2001-02.

“However, if teachers are to embrace a longer-term strategy, it is important that we can demonstrate early agreement on key issues such as pay and workload pressures.” MORE
Some of the key items of the package are:

o A resolution of the G3 salary problem;
o A 10.46% salary increase over three years based on real and projected wage increases;
o Increased but differential values for management units and new duty allowances;
o A freeze on student loan interest while a person remains in secondary teaching;
o 30 research sabbaticals per year;
o A baseline of 5 non-contact hours per week with an additional hour per unit for unit holders;
o The creation of new specialist classroom positions; and
o Adjustments to allowances for ICT activities, associate teachers, careers advisors, and NCEA coordinators.
The current agreement expires at the end of June. PPTA expects the Ministry to respond within eight weeks.

Ends
Secondary Teachers Collective Agreement (STCA)
Claims package 2004 - 2007

1. G3 solution:

1.1 A resolution to the G3 salary problem.

2. Salary:

2.1 That the value of the salary scale is increased by 10.46% over the three-year term through annual adjustment to the values of the salary steps.

2.2 That the value of units for middle and senior managers in schools is increased: 1st unit to $3,500, 2nd unit to $4000, 3rd unit to $5000 and thereafter to $3,500 for each additional unit.

2.3 That there are 19,000 new duty allowances at a rate of $1,000 for extra/co-curricular activities and other short-term tasks and that the allocation of them within a school shall be following consultation with its teaching staff.

2.4 That adjustments are made to the maximum part-time employment and to the salary loading for part-time teaching to remove the anomaly resulting from guaranteed non-contact time for full-time teachers.

2.5 That salary is reassessed upon upgrading one’s qualification to another salary group and that the new salary would apply from the official qualification notification date.

2.6 That the Higher Diploma of Teaching becomes a G2 qualification as it is in qualifications charts for the area and primary school teachers.

2.7 That the Ministry of Education agrees to carry out a Qualifications Chart Review in consultation with PPTA.

3. Non-salary remuneration:

3.1 That there is provision for medical retirement for those who must leave teaching for a genuine medical reason. Either sick leave is paid out or 3 months salary is paid, whichever is greater. The compassionate grant will be paid should a teacher die during the period the payment would have covered.

3.2 That there is an interest freeze on all student loans while a person remains in secondary teaching.

3.3 That thirty research sabbaticals, each of a term’s length are established annually, to be available to those who have been at their salary maximum for a minimum of five years.

3.4 That the High Priority Teacher Supply Allowance and the Area School Priority Teacher Supply Allowance are extended to all full time teachers regardless of the number of units they hold.

3.5 That the 6 Form Cert allowance becomes the NCEA co-coordinator’s allowance and is increased to the value of a unit.

3.6 That the service increment is not limited to permanently appointed teachers only, and that it shall be retained upon gaining units.

3.7 That the supernumerary, retraining time and long service grant provisions (for when teachers lose positions through staffing reductions in schools) be extended from 30 school weeks to 40 school weeks.

4. Workload:

4.1 That there is a baseline of five guaranteed non-contact hours per week for full time teachers.

4.2 That a minimum of one hour per unit per week of additional non-contact time for permanent unit holders is guaranteed and there is additional staffing to support this, and that schools should endeavour to extend this to fixed term unit holders.

4.3 That the timetable policy which each school was required to develop include i) agreement on maximum class sizes and ii) limits on activities outside the timetabled school day.

4.4 That a minimum of three hours non-contact time provided for each hour a teacher is to deliver on-line teaching.

4.5 That a time allowance for elected union representatives is provided.

4.6 That the Te Atakura time allowance is extended to those who graduated in 1991 and 1992.

4.7 That cultural leave includes leave for national Kapahaka competitions.

5 Career pathways:

5.1 That, depending on the size of the school, between two and eight new specialist classroom positions are established in each school.

5.2 That all schools receive an allocation of half a day per week extra staffing time for the purpose of establishing an ICT management position.

5.3 That the payment for teachers who work with teacher trainees is increased to $6.50 per hour.

5.4 That the careers allowance is increased to the value of a unit and become payable to teachers who hold a unit.

5.5 That a new special duties allowance/increment is established for those appointed to special classes or schools, health camps, hospital classes with special teaching problems and employees appointed to Resource Teacher: Learning and Behaviour positions.

6 Other issues:

6.1 That paid leave be available to a parent or birth partner for attendance at the birth of a child. .

6.2 That the existing right to unpaid parental leave is extended to two years.

6.3 That paid leave for sickness in the home (charged against sick leave) is extended to include caring for dependent family members who live outside the teacher’s household.

6.4 That sick leave details are shown on pay slips or made available at no cost to the employee.

6.5 That the current one day’s paid leave per annum for identified religious purposes, currently restricted to specified Jewish festivals, is extended to include festivals/significant days of other religions. .

6.6 That continuous service for the compassionate grant is not broken by periods out of teaching for child-rearing.

7. Additional Area School Claims

7.1 That there is a 0.1 beginning teacher time allowance for second year teachers in area schools and staffing provided for this.

7.2 That the formula for allocating units to area schools is revised to include the secondary formula for years 7 – 13.

ENDS

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