“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 ...
“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 ...
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 ...
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 Te Wehengarua members have re-elected Melanie Webber as their president for a third term. Melanie, a media studies teacher at Western Springs College Ngā Puna o Waiōrea, says one of her key goals for 2023 is to get a satisfactory settlement of the secondary teachers’ collective agreement. “We desperately need to stem the tide ...
Chris Abercrombie, acting president of PPTA Te Wehengarua, says more school attendance officers are a welcome addition but schools need more pastoral and guidance staff to be the ambulance at the top of the cliff. “We desperately need more pastoral and guidance staff in our schools to help identify the students who are struggling, for ...
“After three years of constant disruption, secondary teachers would love nothing more than a settled 2023 for our students and ourselves,” says PPTA Te Wehengarua acting president Chris Abercrombie. “We have been in negotiations for a new collective agreement since May last year so there has been plenty of time for the Government to make ...
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 ...
In her first year as a secondary teacher, Louise Ryan was shoulder tapped and encouraged to get actively involved in PPTA Te Wehengarua – and she hasn’t stopped. Louise is Head of Media Studies at Western Springs College Ngā Puna o Waiōrea. “I’m incredibly lucky to currently work at a school where the support of ...
The huge changes that lie ahead for secondary education have exciting potential and are absolutely necessary to improve education for kaiako and ākonga alike but we need to take a pause on some aspects to ensure we get the best possible outcomes long term, PPTA Te Wehengarua national executive member, Louise Ryan, told Annual Conference. ...