The national collective agreements for secondary and area school teachers and secondary and area school principals will expire in July 2010.

Membership consultation around the collective agreement claim will begin mid 2009.

• The focus of the secondary teachers’ claim will continue to be on establishing salary rates and working conditions that recruit and retain high quality specialist secondary teachers. There are serious national shortages in technology, mathematics, the sciences and Te Reo as well as a dearth of applicants for many basic scale and middle management positions.
• In order to effectively respond to secondary recruitment and retention problems, the negative effect of the entrenchment clause in the primary teachers’ collective agreement will have to be eliminated.
• Other priorities for bargaining may include:
  
  • continued collective agreement support for extended professional development and upskilling;
  • continuing the Ministerial Taskforce work plan to expand career options for secondary teachers;
  • improved induction support for beginning teachers and measures to address workload pressures for part-time teachers and all those engaged in delivering NCEA, particularly those in middle and senior management positions.

PPTA also wants to see an improvement in the remuneration and working conditions for secondary principals.

Recommendations to Government

1. That early in 2009, the Government empower the Secretary for Education to begin discussions with PPTA about a strategic approach to the 2010 bargaining round including improved provisions of for on-going professional learning, broadened career opportunities, improved conditions for classroom teaching and learning nd the management of workload.
2. That the Government continues to support national collective employment greements for secondary teachers and principals which are centrally funded.
3. That the Government not renew the primary entrenchment clauses.
4. That employment legislation should continue to be based on:
   
   • strong good faith requirements so that employment problems are resolved at the lowest possible level;
   • the recognition of unions;
   • the right to take industrial action in pursuit of a national collective agreement;
   • right of access to workplaces by union representatives, and;
   • the continued provision of paid union meetings and employment relations education leave for union members.
5. That employees continue to receive support through participatory health and safety legislation, public provision of ACC and that current undertakings with respect to the level of employer contribution to Kiwisaver are maintained.