Middle Management Allowances

Guidelines for implementing the MMA provisions of the

Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2004-2007.

November 2004

This advice applies to secondary teachers and their employers in all secondary schools.

Middle Management Allowances (MMAs) 

Introduction and background

The new Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2004 – 2007 provides for additional allowances, each of $1,000, to be made to middle managers in schools from the beginning of 2005. These allowances were developed to help address recruitment and retention pressures in middle management identified by the Ministerial Taskforce.

From the beginning of the 2005 school year secondary (including year 7-13) schools will receive a number of Middle Management Allowances (MMAs) generated by formula in the Secondary Staffing Orders in Council which can be allocated to middle management teachers with designated curriculum and/or pastoral management responsibilities subject to an agreed set of criteria. 

The Middle Management Allowances will be paid fortnightly at the full annual rate of $1,000 to both full time and part time teachers.  MMAs are not divisible.

The STCA requires that the school distribute the allowances after consultation with those covered by the Collective Agreement. 

These guidelines have been developed jointly by NZPPTA,  the New Zealand School Trustees’ Association and are to supplement the implementation of this new provision which is described in clause 4.3A of the STCA¹.  They are intended to help management and teachers through the consultation and allocation process of the school’s MMA entitlement in a manner that is true to the original intent.

It is intended that the guidelines will assist teaching staff and principals in developing ‘best practice’ model(s) based on good faith principles by which to allocate MMAs, as these principles underpin good employment relationships in schools.  

NB 1. The interpretations of the collective agreement provisions, which form part 2 of this advice, represent the agreed understandings of NZSTA, MoE and PPTA.  

NB 2. Board funded payments (Board Units/ RRR units/ RRR payments) made from the operations grant are not units and are not to be considered for the purpose of determining eligibility for MMAs.  

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