Category: Post Primary Teachers Association

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“We were promised  a lot by the Minister and our expectations were pretty high in terms of more funding, for example, for schools’ operation grants and professional learning and development for secondary teachers.  That has not eventuated. Increases to school operations grants, for instance, are below inflation, leaving them worse off in real terms.

“For a government that claims that one of its top priorities is education, today’s Budget is a big let down – particularly in the face of significant roll increases due to increases in immigration. 

“The highlight of the Education announcements is property, which is necessary, but it is people who are the most important investment in education.”

“There is nothing significant for improving school attendance when we have significant work to do to re-engage students who have not attended school regularly as a result of COVID.” 

“Teachers need professional learning and development to ensure they can be culturally responsive in their teaching and develop the use of te reo and tikanga Māori. Schools can’t do this on their own, the government needs to support them to meet their obligations under Te Tiriti.”

Chris Abercrombie said the Budget further demonstrated that Aotearoa New Zealand cannot afford charter schools. “Funnelling $153 million into an unproven experiment at a time when the government cannot even ensure that schools’ operations grants can keep up with inflation is irresponsbile – and immoral.

“Despite the Minister promising that funding will be the same for charter schools as state schools, the budget announcement that charter schools will have access to the funding for period products in schools shows that this is false.

“Kiwi Mums and Dads expect their hard earned tax to be spent on ensuring their children receive a quality education at their local school. The vast majority of Kiwi parents send their children to state schools and would far prefer that they be funded and resourced fully rather than setting up a separate system, funded by taxpayers, but are neither required to teach the national curriculum nor hire only registered and trained teachers.

“The Finance Minister and Prime Minister both promised a Budget dedicated to more funding for frontline services – secondary schools are one of the key frontline services in our country and we have been let down badly today.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

The performance measures, objectives and key accountabilities, curriculum performance standards and minimum number of roles to be held by qualified teachers will all be contained in charter schools’ contracts which are not required to be available to school communities or the public.

 “The lack of transparency is extremely concerning,” says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president. “Charter schools will not be covered by the Official Information Act like state schools are, there are no rights for any ongoing community representation as part of the governance. Once a school becomes a charter school it’s a massive black hole.”

 State schools are required to consult with their communities to develop their school’s annual report, strategic plan and annual implementation plan. These documents all must be publicly available and show how boards will meet the objectives set out in the Education and Training Act 2020. Community representation, through the school board, is mandatory.

 There will be no requirements for new charter schools to consult with impacted or interested parties – such as nearby local schools. It appears they won’t have to consult on the health curriculum, and it is unclear if they will have to publish attendance data.

“Most concerning of all is that the Minister of Education will have the power to direct local schools to enter the conversion process for being a charter school based on ‘government priorities’ or ‘based on state school performance’. This direction can happen without any input from the school board, the teachers, or the community.

 “This is a completely unjustified overreach of Ministerial power, when there are already proven interventions that can be made in the state system to support schools, such as engaging a specialist advisor to the board.

 “We know from the last failed attempt that charter schools are unaccountable and the Minister’s own officials conclude ‘it was unclear if the model had an impact on the academic achievement for specific learner groups’. 

 “Communities and school boards need to be very wary of what they are being sold. Instead of putting money into secret deals for charter schools, the Government needs to put taxpayers’ money where it belongs –supporting the diverse range of public schools already available for New Zealand rangatahi.”

List of provisions to be provided in secret contracts rather than legislation: 

• Education performance measures
• Objectives and key accountabilities
• Curriculum performance standards
• Minimum number of specified roles to be held by qualified teachers
• Distance education requirements
• Performance outcomes, measures and targets
• Areas of non-performance requiring escalated interventions
• Triggers for interventions
• Property maintenance rates for parents
• Requirements for complaints and independent review process
• Transition process for converting schools
• Tolls and data used to measure each performance outcome area
• Reporting requirements
• Curriculum
• Qualifications offered
• Provisions for termination of contract
• Provisions for renewal of contract
• Hours and dates students required to attend
• Requirement to participate in national and international studies
• Performance information and frequency
• Person or body responsible for independent review of complaints
• Intervals at which to inform parents of student progress
• Progress updates on implementation plan
• Location and premises
• Transport for students

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Pouring $153 million of public money into charter schools when New Zealand’s state schools are already full of innovation and opportunity, is wasteful, says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president. 

 “Talk to any principal or teacher and they will be able to tell you about initiatives that they are desperate for funding for, to meet the needs of the students in their schools, whether that is supporting attendance initiatives, learning support, food in schools, relationships and participation with the local community –  the list goes on.  

 “When charter schools were introduced under the last National-ACT coalition there was no evidence that they improved educational outcomes despite funding each student at least six times more than state school students. There remains no compelling evidence that charter schools can achieve the claims being made of them by the Associate Minster for Charter Schools.  The fact that all but one former charter school have been re-integrated into the public school system shows there was no need for them in the first place.  

 “At the very time where every cent of public money is being scrutinised, it is unbelievable that hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into charter schools with no accountability to the public or their local communities.” 

 Chris Abercrombie said evidence from the UK charter school / academy experiment overwhelmingly showed there are no better educational outcomes for kids.  It also showed that local autonomy and decision making had been completely removed. “Communities will rightfully be dismayed by the thought of their local school being converted without any accountability or agreement of the community required. 

 Chris Abercrombie said today’s announcement contained no details of what professional support would be available for teachers in schools that converted to charter schools. “The idea of teaching in a school with no requirement to teach the curriculum, with no access to centralised professional learning and development or assessment support and alongside unqualified teachers will not be an attractive option.” 

 He said Mr Seymour’s statement about charter schools being able to help students engage with learning differently was gobsmacking, given the evidence that exactly these students are rejected by overseas charter schools in order to meet their targets. “Nor has Mr Seymour explained what happens to the children if a charter school is closed or how the disruption to their education is managed.  

 “Teachers, students and communities are becoming increasingly confused about exactly what this Government’s policies are in the education space – it’s going in all directions at the ideological whim of the various parties. Mr Seymour’s announcement today does not give us any confidence or clarity that this Government has a clear direction for education.  Our students deserve much better.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“Ensuring that one of kids’ most basic needs – to be fed properly – is met each day at school  gives them a much better chance of being able to learn and achieve. We’re particularly pleased that the programme will continue in its current form for the rest of this year – schools will be breathing a sigh of relief.”

Chris Abercrombie said it was surprising that the Government was taking two years to review the lunch programme.  “This Government has been extremely critical of other governments for being slow with reviews and initiatives – two years seems a very long amount of time for this particular review.

“Schools need certainty and work should be focused on expansion of the programme – the more children and young people who can be guaranteed lunch each day, the better.”

Chris Abercrombie said teachers were concerned the new bulk purchasing system could reduce schools’ ability to respond to the particular needs of their communities. “We will have to see how it rolls out but it’s really important that meeting students’ needs continues to be at the heart of Ka Ora Ka Ako.”

“The best way to make sure there’s no waste is to make sure the food is what kids want to eat. Schools that make their lunches in-house are the ones that report the highest level of satisfaction with the programme and we don’t want that to be lost.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, said outside of collective agreement negotiations paid union meetings were held when there were government proposals that would affect members, the teaching profession, schools or ākonga.

“The focus of these meetings will be how we as a profession respond to the Government’s proposals to channel money out of public education and into charter schools, and how we as a union will continue to develop our constitutional objective to affirm and advance Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

“There has been a glaring lack of consultation and information, from both the Ministry and the Ministers of Education on how charter schools will work, despite repeated requests for details through official information requests and face-to-face meetings.

“Charter schools were a hugely expensive and unproven experiment, when they were last introduced back in 2014. Funded totally by public money, they can be run by whoever wants to run them, they are not required to be transparent or accountable, they can use untrained and unqualified staff as teachers and they’re not required to teach the national curriculum. The fact that all the charter schools – bar one – were able to be reintegrated successfully back into the state school system demonstrates there was no need for them in the first place.

“We are seriously concerned this time around about existing schools being converted to charter schools. There are signficiant implications for children and young people’s access to their local school, teachers’ terms and conditions of work, redundancy costs, property issues and much more. Every school community has a right to know what is being planned.”

Chris Abercrombie said teachers were also concerned about the effect of Government policies and decisions on Māori student achievement, and its responsibilities under Te Tiriti.

“We are concerned that some of the Government’s policies are undermining the great work that has been done in schools towards improving educational outcomes for ākonga Māori.

“We cannot stand by while that work is unravelled and we cannot stand by while local schools are privatised.”

The meetings will be held during the fortnight from Monday 13 May to Friday 24 May.

PPTA Te Wehengarua paid union meeting schedule

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Pay equity is about ensuring the same pay for work requiring similar levels of skills and responsibilities.

Chris Abercrombie says there has been a lot of great progress made with pay equity over the last few years, including for large groups of workers such as aged care workers and nurses.

Disbanding the taskforce would make it more difficult for workers to raise pay equity claims, and for the claims currently in progress to reach completion. One of these is the teachers’ pay equity claim, covering more than 90,000 workers across the education sector – from early childhood through to secondary, including English language and Māori language schools and kura. The teachers’ pay equity claim is currently in the assessment phase, where data is being analysed and comparators are being sought.

“If the Minister genuinely believes that government agencies can take on the taskforce’s work, given the significant cuts to their organisations, she is dreaming. We understand proposed cuts at the Ministry of Education, for example, will reduce their ability to continue the pay equity work they have been doing already – let alone take on more responsiblities.”

“The taskforce has made a huge contribution towards addressing the unfair practice of paying feminised professions less because of a historical undervaluing of the work that women do. We were beginning to see the putting right of serious imbalances in how people were paid based simply on their gender.

“The axing of the taskforce will also leave a serious gap in knowledge, experience and support for employers, Ministers and communities.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“As the report notes, last year’s events were very stressful for everyone involved, especially the students. It is reasonable to expect fast lessons will have been learned and steps taken to make sure the technology and related systems work without issue this year. Whatever it takes to restore our trust in the system, it must be done.”

“An explanation of the drivers for why digital exams should be relied on as opposed to traditional hard copies is important for students, parents and schools to see and understand. A world class assessment system is not cheap and the investment needs are great both within NZQA and within schools.”

Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, said teachers welcomed the review’s recommendations to provide more support for principal’s nominees in schools. Principal’s nominees are individual teachers in each school who are the key liaison between the schools and the Qualifications Authority and have overall responsibility for the running of exams in their school.

“We are really proud of how all the principal’s nominees responded to the problems with exams last year. They did amazing work under intense pressure, stepping up to ensure that those students affected were assisted as quickly and effectively as possible.”

Chris Abercrombie reiterated the call for more funding for the Qualifications Authority to ensure it had all the systems and safeguards in place for future exams. “We can have either good assessment or cheap assessment – we can’t have both.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“It’s great that the Government has listened to school communities and health advocates and is funding the programme for another few years. There will be hundreds of thousands of tamariki, rangatahi and their families who will be very relieved to hear this news.”

Chris Abercrombie said with unemployment rising and no foreseeable reduction in the cost of living, many families in Aotearoa New Zealand would continue to do it very hard over the next few years. “It made no sense whatsoever to cut this programme.

“Ka Ora Ka Ako not only benefits students by ensuring they have at least one nutritious meal five days a week and are in a better frame of mind to learn, but it  also provides employment for people in the local community.

“We hope that this reprieve gives the Associate Education Minister more time to explore the benefits of this programme and consider extending it where necessary.

“We also hope that the Prime Minister’s desire to make the programme more efficient does not involve targeting to particular students within a school. The evidence is very clear that this is stigmatising and does not work.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

Ahead of the Subject Associations Forum in April, PPTA News spoke with three subject associaton leaders about what subject associations do and the benefits of belonging.

Francis Leslie-Ellis, secretary of the NZ Association of Mathematics Teachers, is a deputy principal at Inglewood High School and still teaches Mathematics. “I love the subject and love writing
assessments, I really enjoy presenting the support for NCEA Level 1- we were a pilot school last year so I’ve got all of that background knowledge.” The NZ Association of Mathematics Teachers (NZAMT), has about 5000 members from the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.

Key activities each year include writing camps, involving around 35 teachers from all around the motu. In January they meet in Auckland and write internal assessments for all NCEA levels and in April teachers meet in Christchurch to
write external assessments.

Sharing expertise and knowledge

“We try to get teachers from all around the country so that expertise and knowledge of the standards can go back to the regions.”

Keeping in touch with the regions, particularly the more remote ones, is an ongoing challenge for subject association, says Francis. Recently, for instance, the Association ran a seminar on the new NCEA Level 1 standards in Gisborne. “That cost us about $30K once you pay for all the day relief for teachers and travel and accommodation for the presenters.” However the face to
face sessions are extremely valuable for sharing knowledge, developments and concerns. Such sessions keep Francis and
the Association’s executive in touch with what’s going on across the motu.

The Association is using its Networks of Expertise funding to run as many face to face meetings as possible this term around the new NCEA Level 1. Weekly online support workshops are also being run by NZAMT. “Our key mantra is to support mathematics teachers.”

Membership fees for NZAMT are based on the size of schools. Small kura or area schools pay a flat rate of $50 annually
and the largest schools pay around $280. “For that fee, every maths teacher at that school then becomes a member of
NZAMT. It’s good value as there are a range of resources that they can access and they get cheaper admission to our
conference. We have a conference every two years and members get a discounted registration for that.”

Relievers or other maths teachers who aren’t based at one school can join for $30 and for that they get the minutes
of each monthly NZAMT meeting and discounted registration rates for the conference. Full membership enables teachers to access resources that are behind a paywall. Francis says the material that is most valuable is kept secure so teachers can be
confident that whatever they put in front of students will not be available publicly.

TENZ: Who are we?

Hamish Johnston, a technology teacher at Kaiapoi High School, is the Heamana | Chair of Technology Education New
Zealand (TENZ). “TENZ is organised by teachers for teachers and our aim is to enhance the learning and teaching of technology by creating a well informed, well connected, supportive, and sustainable professional community that has a strong voice and provides effective advocacy for technology education.

“We understand the importance of fostering a vibrant community of likeminded individuals passionate about technology education. Every kaiako, no matter the subject, should belong to a subject association. There are many times when we must reach out for specialist support and our kura is not always able to provide it, whether it be resources, professional development, or just advice and support.”

Along this line, TENZ membership gives teachers access to a diverse collection of educational materials, lesson plans, and tools designed to engage ākonga and facilitate meaningful learning experiences. And there is school based membership where a school can add as many of their staff as possible as well as free membership for those wanting to find out more.

Professional support and development is important, says Hamish, particularly with changes across the educational landscape. “We continue to explore innovative approaches to teaching and learning, such as one of last year’s Professional Learning and Development (PLD) Day looking at Mātauranga Māori and its effective use in technology.

Diving deep

“Our free monthly PLD webinars are here to support teachers every step of the way. We dive deep into various topics
ranging from emerging technologies to pedagogical strategies for effective classroom integration. Led by industry experts and seasoned educators, our webinars provide a platform for continuous learning and professional growth. And the recordings all go on our YouTube for anyone to view for free.”

TENZ also supports educators outside of a school setting. “We are able to draw on the expertise of teachers and the wider community to produce resources on a variety of topics. We have not only collaborated in competitions run by STEM-focused organisations but also nature based charities such as Forest and Bird.”

A highlight for TENZ last year was their Conference last year in Ōtautahi Christchurch, so many passionate educators in one place sharing their practice. Our conferences provide the perfect platform for educators, professionals, and enthusiasts from across the motu to come together, exchange ideas, and collaborate on innovative projects. We had everyone from seasoned veterans to those just starting their journey in technology education, our conference offered invaluable networking opportunities and learning to propel us forward and keep us
up to date.

This year TENZ are looking forward to more exciting things, the TESAC Conference in April, resources, PLD, and joining to support Kohara2Shine where all Wellington schools are invited to join us.

Raising awareness

Helping the education sector and public understand the benefits of learning languages other than English, is a key goal for the NZ Association of Language Teachers, (NZALT) says President, Juliet Kennedy. “Learning languages builds solid literacy
skills – we are teachers of literacy; it is the fundamental bread and butter of what we do, and this is often completely overlooked or not understood by school leaders and people making policy. We would like to see a languages policy in Aotearoa.”

NZALT is run by language teachers and university lecturers. Its support for language teachers includes: a coordinator who is available all the time to answer queries from teachers; a website with resources, information and news; regional clusters where teachers can share resources, ideas, problems, and work on different pedagogies together. Juliet says the Association also provides awards that enable teachers to visit other teachers of their language to observe and
share ideas, and awards that contribute to post-graduate language teaching and related study.

International conference

NZALT, in conjunction with its Australian counterpart, holds an international conference every two years. It also runs competitions for students, and advocates on behalf of language teachers and language education, collaborating with stakeholders to support ‘big picture issues’ around language teaching. “Our executive are actively involved in the Curriculum refresh and in setting NCEA assessments and moderation. This year, with our Ministry and NZQA colleagues we are running moderation days around the country for the new NCEA Level 1 standards.” NZALT provides a strong support network of colleagues who teach languages. “Learning languages is not valued within our education system and having this support is essential – many language teachers are sole teachers and need colleagues from other schools to
support them.”

Juliet says the Networks of Expertise funding has been extremely helpful to NZALT, enabling language teachers to attend more PLD conferences and events. “This funding allows us to provide many more opportunities for teachers to feel good about what they are doing and advance their knowledge and skills. We would like to have the security of knowing the NEX funding will continue. “NZALT is a great, positive body of people to belong to – we have a lot of fun and love what we do.”

Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)

“The NCEA Level 1 results are particularly concerning. However, the young people in these cohort made the transition to secondary school, which is a huge adjustment from primary and intermediate, during extremely disruptive years. Many of them have probably not settled fully into the routines, study habits and disciplines of life as a secondary school student. I really hope that the next stage of their secondary schooling is far more settled and smooth, and they can begin to reach their potential.”

Chris Abercrombie said the disruption caused by COVID lockdowns, and ongoing COVID-related sickness and absences of both teachers and students, continued to take its toll. “Last year’s Year 13 students, for instance, did practically all their secondary education in extremely disrupted times. While teachers worked hard to get these students through NCEA, the evidence is very clear. Students benefit significantly from regular classroom lessons. There is no substitute.

“It’s also clear, tragically, that the worsening shortage of subject specialist teachers is starting to bite. The latest PPTA Te Wehengarua staffing survey found that nearly 60 percent of secondary schools have teachers teaching subjects outside their specialist areas. I have no doubt that these teachers are working their hardest to fill the gaps. However, all students need – and deserve – to have teachers who know ther subject inside out and who can enable students to build a wide and deep knowledge of the subject.

“We urge the government to show its mettle and find effective and lasting solutions for the secondary teacher shortage. Every young person in Aotearoa New Zealand has a right to a specialist teacher in every subject. The future of Aotearoa New Zealand depends on it.”