Kia ora koutou,

All collective agreements have now been settled. With the settlement of the Secondary Teacher’s Collective Agreement (STCA), the agreed increases to the Unified Base Salary (UBS) Scale will now need to be worked through into the other teacher collective agreements by way of variation. The Ministry of Education and NZSTA will continue to update our communications and website guidance as these changes come into effect.  Please see updated information on the collective agreements below, along with updates on the extension of the centrally funded workforce wellbeing package and principal eligibility criteria. 

Secondary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2022–2025 now ratified

This agreement was ratified by members of PPTA Te Wehengarua on 9 August. The term of the Agreement is from 3 July 2022 to 2 July 2025, with the first salary increase effective 3 July 2023. Education payroll will implement the lump sum payments by 5 September and the rest of the settlement by 18 October. Details of the settlement can be found on the Ministry website.

Primary Principals’ (NZEI) Collective Agreement 2023– 2025 now ratified
This agreement was ratified by NZEI Te Riu Roa members on 29 June. The term of the agreement is from 3 July 2023 to 2 July 2025. Changes that will be implemented from now until the start of Term 1, 2025 are on the Ministry website.  

Area School Principals’ Collective Agreement 2023–2025 now ratified
On 28 July, this agreement was settled and ratified by area school principal members of the NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA Te Wehengarua. The term of the Agreement is from 3 July 2023 to 2 July 2025. Details of the settlement, including the new rates of pay for principals working in positions covered by the collective agreement are published on the Ministry website. 

Settlement of the Area School Teachers Collective Agreement 2023–2025

Key features of this collective agreement will be available on NZSTA’s Resource Centre shortly under Help for boards/understanding employment agreements. 

Primary Teachers Collective Agreement 2023–25 

Changes to Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement 2023-25 can be found on the Ministry's website.

Variations to Support Staff in Schools’ Collective Agreement 2022–24 and Kaiārahi i te Reo and Therapists’ Collective Agreement 2022–24 

Variations to the Support Staff in Schools and the Kaiārahi i te Reo collective agreements were ratified by NZEI Te Riu Roa members on 26 July. The term of both collective agreements has now been extended to 19 December 2024. Other changes include higher rates of pay, with additional payments including lump sums. Employees covered by these collective agreements are paid from operational funding. Schools and kura will receive additional funding to cover the increased costs of these variations to collective agreements before payments are made to employees.  See more on the Ministry of Education website.

Principal Eligibility Criteria 
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has released the Principals Eligibility Criteria for English medium schools.
Work began on developing these criteria in 2022 following feedback during the Tomorrow School's Review, and the Ministry has been facilitating their development with the education sector since then. The Ministry facilitated input from school boards, principal peak bodies, PPTA, NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Mātauranga Leaders Group (MILG). The Minister approved the criteria in August 2023. These are being released now so that everyone can become familiar with them before they are formally issued as a requirement for boards to use in the principal’s appointment process from 1 March 2024. 

The four pou are:

POU TĀNGATA – LEADER OF PEOPLEA leader who brings together and works with a wide range of people, including staff, students, whānau and community.

POU AKO – LEADER OF VISION FOR LEARNINGA leader who implements the vision of mana whenua, the board and the community for earning within the school.

POU TIKANGA MĀORIA leader who brings Te Tiriti o Waitangi to life in the school, as the founding document of a bicultural Aotearoa New Zealand.

POU MAHI – LEADER OF OPERATIONS A leader who uses systems to effectively manage the school and meet legislative requirements.

All four of the pou carry the same importance when considering hiring a new principal. The pou must be used as part of the appointment process however each school board should also consider factors that are relevant to their school and community. As well as giving school boards a resource for appointing principals it also gives those wishing to move towards a career as a principal or changing principal roles, guidance on what they need to do to achieve this.

Centrally funded workforce wellbeing package extended
Temporary services initially put in place to support the wellbeing of the education sector through the COVID-19 pandemic have been extended. These include Gold Star and EAP counselling support. Gold Star, an interactive resilience building online tool that can be accessed any time, will continue until June 2024. EAP counselling support has also been extended until December. This is available in addition to health and wellbeing initiatives currently offered by schools and kura. More information can be found at the Te Mahau website. 

Ngā mihi,

The NZSTA team