30 May 2012
PPTA members will hold paid union meetings next month in a bid to combat government attacks on frontline teaching staff and class size.
President Robin Duff said the cuts amounted to a $300 million claw back of school staffing over the next five years.
On top of the technology centres and intermediate schools which will be hit hard by the cuts, there were nearly 100 year 7 to 13 schools that would be very badly affected.
In many areas year 9 to 13 schools offering technology education would also be hit, he said.
“Subject options will have to be cut and area schools and junior high schools will no longer be able to function the way they were designed to operate.”
While year 7 to 13 schools would be immediately affected, all schools could end up with bigger classes in the future, Duff said.
He rejected education minister Hekia Parata’s claim the government backtrack promising cuts of no more than two fulltime teaching equivalent staff at any school for the first three years was “good news.”
“Losing one teacher is a bad thing for any school, losing two will be a disaster for most,” he said.
Duff said arguments the cuts were designed to improve teacher quality were “fundamentally dishonest” as the evidence showed Treasury and government had been preparing for them since well before the 2011 election.
“If National was so scared about public reaction that they did not include these cuts as part of their election manifesto, then where is the mandate?” he said.
Duff said the PUMs would be used to update members on the impacts of the staffing cuts and to develop a campaign to fight for their reversal.
“If the government had consulted with the education sector in the first place, as it constantly claims it will do, this whole mess might have been avoided,” he said.
Contact: PPTA president Robin Duff – 04 913 4227 or 021 636 108
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Thomas Patrick Cull
said:
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The future is bleak for students at Mission Heights Junior College. As a Junior College, with years 9 and 10 only coming under the secondary staffing provisions, MHJC will be exceptionally disadvantaged by the government proposals: Staff/student ratios. The reduction in teachers will hit our school as we continue to offer technology at years 7 and 8. Teacher Contact Hours and staffing provision. Furthermore, our staff are employed on the basis of the PPTA Collective agreement, and we enjoy Secondary School non-contact provision- for which we give secondary standard classes. However the MOE only funds for the year 9 and 10 roll, not the 7 and 8 roll (very limited non-contact primary NZEI model). This means that we are not funded to the level of service we are expected to provide, and we are always underfunded. As our roll increases to 1100, our projected loss will be 7.2 teachers. A staffing plan nightmare for school heads: September announcements by the MOE for staffing numbers will be too late for staff planning and fixed term ed-gazetting. We don't know if the loss of two teachers would be cancelled by any roll increase. In the current economic climate, who would leave a fixed term position to go to a Long Term Reliever post? The concept of freezing staffing at 2013 levels. This is particularly concerning. In short we would not be able to function. Since we have had all 4 cohorts in the school,(2010) our roll has risen by 26.6% from 506 in 2010 to 641 in 2012 (March 1st figures), a total of 135 additional students. Even on a ratio of 1: 27.5 and ignoring the other issues you have raised re non contact provisions, we would have needed 5 additional teachers in that time. There is no reason to expect that our roll will not continue to grow at the same rate as building continues at pace. If our staffing is frozen at 2013 levels we will not be able to staff the school and we will experience the full effect of the cuts with no buffer. |
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