PPTA

Decisions are made by those who make themselves heard ... and those who vote

Not only is it election time where, next month, we get to have our say on what the future of New Zealand will look like and under whose leadership;  but over the next fortnight secondary teachers will have the opportunity to vote on the leadership of PPTA. There are two nominations for president and three nominations for junior vice president (JVP).

There is a saying around elections along the lines of "we get what we deserve" - i.e if you don't vote you'll just have to put up with the result!

The leadership of PPTA, an incredibly important voice for teachers and public education,  is too important to leave to chance.

I've cribbed various bits from PPTA publications to give you an idea of what is asked of your representatives:

The PPTA presidential team are the representatives who are asked to take the leadership role in building PPTA and uniting the membership within the teaching profession. They will be involved in leading and representing teachers during collective agreement negotiations; and in advocating on professional and educational issues. These issues revolve around PPTA's commitment to quality education so will involve negotiation with government ministers and agencies on issues including curriculum needs and materials, school funding, qualifications and assessment, student needs and teacher needs.

A quick glance at the PPTA annual report will give you an idea of how involved and important these roles are.

The president takes leave from teaching to work from national office during the term of the presidency, is chairperson of the annual conference and of the executive, and is responsible for the general supervision of the affairs of the association. This job is based in national office and requires total commitment for the full 12 months.  Usually the president is the only person who may speak to the media about association policy and national aspects of an issue.

The senior vice president is the immediate past president. The junior vice president is elected annually by all members.  The vice presidents assist the president in her/his duties and act as president or chairperson in her/his stead when necessary.

One important role they have is as members of the management committee. The management committee meets, between executive meetings and in conjunction with executive meetings, to consider staffing, financial and administration matters as well as urgent political matters.

The New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) is a voluntary trade union and professional association. Teachers employed in state and integrated secondary schools, area schools, technicraft centres and community education centres are eligible to join PPTA and around 18,000 or 95% of these are members. The main source of income for PPTA's activities is members' subscriptions.

People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people.  Of course, that is not true.  Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing. - Walter H. Judd (American politician)

P.S. The boss wants to know if I'm writing about the Election. Will wait till the PPTA News has all the education policies pulled together before I do that