95% Endorsement Of Primary Teachers' Claim

Thursday May 31 2007

From NZEI Te Riu Roa

95% Endorsement Of Primary Teachers' Claim To Create New Career Pathway

A $450 million claim to implement a new career pathway for primary teachers and fund a four percent pay rise will be lodged by the teachers' union, NZEI Te Riu Roa, with the Ministry of Education tomorrow.(1)

The claim has been strongly supported by teachers, with 95 percent of those attending paid union meetings earlier this month voting in its favour. The new career structure would encourage experienced teachers to stay in the classroom, provide additional time for management duties and create a nationally consistent career path.

"Teachers overwhelmingly supported the new career pathway because they want to encourage and reward experienced teachers so they stay in the profession," NZEI President Irene Cooper says. "The other strong message from our meetings across the country is that measures to reduce class size are a key issue. Teachers repeatedly told us that the biggest thing that would impact on their ability to do their job more effectively would be to reduce class sizes."

Finding ways to address excessive class size has always been a priority for NZEI, and an apparent u-turn by Government on a long-standing commitment about implementing staffing improvements – which was confirmed in the teachers’ 2004 collective agreement -- has exacerbated concerns. While there was funding in the Budget for lower ratios of 1:18 from the second term of 2008 for new entrant classes, many other children were in classes of 30 or more. In light of this, the claim will include a demand for further increased staffing.

The proposed new career pathway, developed by NZEI, the Ministry of Education and the School Trustees Association, creates new roles known as Advanced Skills Teachers, Mentor Teachers and Middle and Senior Leadership positions.
More than 15,000 teachers attended nearly 120 meetings nation-wide between May 7 and May 25. Negotiations between NZEI and the Ministry are expected to begin in August.

(1) The claim will be handed to Ministry of Education officials at NZEI's Education House, 182 Willis St, at 11.30am on Friday June 1st. Ministry officials are then required to make recommendations to Government about the claim and to receive a mandate for negotiations, which are expected to begin in August.

ENDS

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