Articles for category: Politics

PPTA

Te Petihana Reo Māori celebrations

Te Petihana Reo Māori was delivered to Parliament on 14 September 1972. Credit – Stuff Ltd. Sir James Henare’s words, “Kua tawhiti kē to haerenga mai, kia kore e haere tonu. He nui rawa o mahi, kia kore e mahi tonu.” (“You have come too far not to go further, you have done too much ...

PPTA

Secondary teachers meet to respond to Government offer

The first meetings will be held tomorrow (Monday 28 November) in Dunedin, Queenstown and Auckland. The secondary teachers’ union, PPTA Te Wehengarua, has been in negotiations with the Ministry of Education for about six months. PPTA Te Wehengarua’s claims for new collective agreements for its secondary and area school teacher members include a cost of ...

PPTA

Government’s collective agreement offers rejected by PPTA national executive

“We need collective agreements that contain salaries and conditions that will help stem the worsening shortage of subject specialist teachers in our high schools and area schools,” says Melanie Webber, president of PPTA Te Wehengarua.  “We need salaries and conditions that will attract people into secondary teaching and keep existing teachers in the profession. We ...

PPTA

School attendance report hugely concerning – more time and resources needed

“As the Education Review Office report released today shows, the factors that are resulting in fewer ākonga attending school regularly are wide-ranging and complex and there is no easy fix.  Missing Out: Why aren’t our children going to school? However, teachers know what is needed. “As the Education Review Office report released today (Thursday 10 ...

PPTA

Government ignores its own evaluations of Learning Support Coordinators

Earlier this year, as part of negotiations for a new collective agreement for area school teachers, PPTA Te Wehengarua claimed improvements to pay and conditions, i.e. greater recognition of the roles, for Learning Support Coordinators. Area schools teach students from Year 1 to through to Year 13 in rural communities of Aotearoa New Zealand. The ...

PPTA

Taking time out to study

Head of Arts at Waimate High School, Nicole Solomon, has swapped the art room for the lecture theatre to return to university this year and further her goals as a lifelong learner. Nicole, who already has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFa) and GradDip Teaching Secondary, is studying toward a Masters in Māori and Indigenous ...

PPTA

A new year of discontent

More than thanks. That’s the campaign slogan of our New South Wales Teachers’ Federation colleagues who are heading into the second year of their push to achieve better wages and conditions for their members. They’ve been out four times, fined by the government, and are still yet to achieve a settlement. Meanwhile international research describes ...

PPTA

Ministry’s teacher supply model over optimistic – PPTA

“While there is nothing wrong mathematically with the model, we think some of the assumptions that it is based on are not realistic. “The results of our teacher supply survey, carried out back in May, painted a pretty dire picture, and we have every reason to believe the situation has deteriorated since then.” The survey ...

PPTA

Government offers rejected resoundingly by secondary principals and teachers

The government’s offer across all four collective agreements includes a pay offer over two years well below the projected cost of living. Schools would seriously struggle to recruit and retain specialist subject teachers at the pay rates proposed. The offers failed to address key conditions and staffing claims made by principals and teachers including claims ...

PPTA

Secondary school principals ratify new collective agreement offer

Along with a salary increase of $4000 from 1 December 2022 and a three percent increase from 1 December 2023, the new agreement focuses on improving principals’ wellbeing with a $6000 allowance for professional coaching and support for principals in their leadership roles, says Kate Gainsford, Chair of the Secondary Principals’ Council. “I’m very pleased ...