We acknowledge that the government is providing significant support for the professional growth of principals as leaders, but the remuneration package simply has to be one where aspiring and current principals can see that the job is worth doing. It needs to be seen as a sought-after role by teachers in middle and senior management.
Recommendations to Government- That entrenchment provisions be removed from primary sector employment agreements.
- That there be a proper job-sizing exercise carried out to examine the responsibilities and workload of secondary, area and primary school principals.
BackgroundPay parity, the policy of equal pay for equal work for both primary and secondary teachers and principals, was instituted by an entrenchment clause in the NZEI collective agreements in the mid-1990s. This has meant that, ever since, everything bargained for the secondary sector could automatically be passed on to the primary sector.
The government’s realisation of the inevitable cost implications of any changes in secondary conditions has meant that they calculate the total flow-on cost. This has drastically limited willingness to recognise secondary issues and develop specific solutions for problems identified.
In 2002 a joint Ministry of Education and PPTA working party examined the structure of remuneration for secondary principals and a staffing component was subsequently introduced to recognise the complexities around the managing of a larger number of staff.
In 2003-4, a second working party made recommendations about the need to recognise secondary principals’ professional growth and experience through the introduction of sabbatical leave and a salary step. The secondary principals were allowed only one of these recommendations and opted for a higher number of sabbaticals rather than the salary step.
Current IssuesThe aforementioned hard-won recognition of the different needs of secondary principals was virtually obliterated in the salary settlements for primary and secondary principals in 2007. Data previously shared was withheld by the Ministry, despite repeated requests. Secondary principals discovered subsequently that they were actually back to the situation that the two working parties had set out to deal with. Now secondary principals are expressing grave concern. They believe that no longer-term view is being considered, given the demographics, turnover and recruitment and retention information about not only secondary principals, but the secondary sector as a whole. Nor are the increasing demands being made of secondary principals being taken into account. Significant numbers of secondary principals have indicated that they will be leaving within a short time frame, and not just to retire. Fields of applicants are frequently small and a disturbing number of positions are being readvertised,
sometimes several times.
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