Expert teachers to be recognised in new initiative

20 May, 2013
Immediate Release

Expert teachers to be recognised in new initiative

The Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement which covers 27,000 teachers has been settled after 10 months of negotiation between the Ministry of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa.

One of the features of the settlement is the introduction of a new process to recognise classroom expertise.

The Advanced Classroom Expertise Teacher (ACET) allowance of $5000 per annum will be available from 2015.

An ACET is a classroom teacher whose expertise has been formally recognised.

The teacher must show that their practice demonstrates creativity and innovation based on research and theory and that results in positive outcomes for all learners.

The initiative is a result of negotiations by NZEI Te Riu Roa to develop and introduce improved career pathways for teachers. This has been an important focus for NZEI Te Riu Roa as quality teaching is essential for student learning.

Negotiations team leader and Auckland deputy principal Frances Guy says that the initiative will give a career pathway for excellent teachers who want to stay in the classroom and not go into management.

It will be a rigorous process where they will be able to show their expert teaching over the whole of the curriculum which can then be attested.

She says the process also supports good relationships with families and whanau and offers modelling to other teachers.

The settlement also sees an increase of up to 3.03% for teachers who are the top step of their salary range. The agreement will expire 30.5 months from the date of signing between the parties.

ENDS

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