New Zealand School Trustees Association
Memorandum to Boards : 2010/5
School :
Chair : (where no email is indicated then the memo is sent via principal/school)
Principal : (via email )
(please advise any changes to above addresses)
Date : 5 March 2010
Subject: Employer Views on Teachers’ and Principals’ Collective Agreements
Purpose : Further to our 16 February 2010 Memo (2010/3) we are now surveying boards on their views on what they consider are the key issues for them.
Survey : Below are 2 links to brief surveys which are straightforward to do (we appreciate you may be feeling a little over surveyed at present but it is the most effective way of getting this information). In order to ensure we can verify where the responses are coming from we will require your school id number when completing the survey. If we could have your comments back by 12 March it would be appreciated. Not a lot of detail is required in the first instance while we assess if there are some key issues to focus on.
This one seeks feedback on the principal’s terms and conditions and should be completed by the board chair or another representative of the board.
In regard to the teachers collective those involved in the response will expand to include the principal and potentially those involved in management (but not including those covered by the collective).
Why are we surveying? As part of the preparation for the bargaining the Ministry prepares a report to government to establish bargaining parameters. We are seeking any particular matters which boards consider requires attention during the process (i.e. board claims). For instance there maybe parts of the current collective agreements which have proven to be a problem in terms of interpretation/application or there may be other matters which you think need consideration. This is your opportunity to raise such issues. You may want to discuss this with previous board representatives to see if anything arose with the previous board. Obviously in relation to teachers the principal will have the operational and professional knowledge and in fact provide a significant amount of any feedback on the boards’ behalf.
We would like you to undertake a the brief survey to seek preliminary feedback from you on any issues.
We also utilise the experience gained by our NZSTA advisers on issues that have arisen for them during the term of the collectives.
There will also be a number of “technical claims” which will be raised prior and during the negotiations where minor matters of clarification or ease of interpretation will be dealt with. If it is of significance then we will advise you at the time.
There are some matters which are specific to particularly types of schools or locations and we will deal with those matters directly with the schools involved at the time.
Potential for Conflict of Interest : Boards of trustees are in a somewhat unique situation, whilst being the “employer” they also contain trustees who are employees (principal and teachers) of their school or another school. So it is necessary to avoid the potential for conflict of interest where the employee is also the “employer” and has a “pecuniary” interest in any decision of the board (as per Schedule 6 [s8 (8) and (9)] of the Education Act 1989). For that reason we operate through the board chair and principal in these situations (other than where we are dealing with matters affecting the principal’s employment conditions where contact is only via the chair).
This does not preclude discussing these matters within the board in general but in this instance does preclude an employee who is also a trustee from participating in any decisions relating to their terms and conditions.