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New Zealand Post Primary Teachers' Association / Te Wehengarua (PPTA) members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of an STCA claim that focuses on high quality, well resourced public education.
Paid union meetings (PUMs) were held throughout the country last month with 97% of those who voted backing the claim, PPTA president Kate Gainsford said. The proposal covers four areas – student and teacher learning conditions, professional support for teachers, remuneration and good employment conditions. It included a base scale increase of 4% for a one-year term and improvements to targeted allowances, and had widespread member support, Kate said.
Secondary teaching as a first choice career
“It’s about maintaining the value of the secondary teacher’s job. Our teachers are part of a global market and we need to ensure secondary teaching is a first choice career,” she said.
Kiwisaver increase to match Teachers' Retirement Savings Scheme (now closed to new members)
It is also proposed to seek an additional 1% employer contribution for teachers in Kiwisaver – to bring it in line with the 3% contribution of the Teachers’ Retirement Savings Scheme, which was closed with the introduction of Kiwisaver.
Reduce class sizes to no more than 30 students
Other proposals include a reduction in class sizes to no more than 30 students (or no more than 24 in practical classes where there are hazards present), greater professional support for teachers and safer working environments. Free immunisation against contagious diseases and the provision of laptops to all teachers as basic tools of the job have also been requested in the claim.
“We want all teachers to be able to concentrate on providing the best learning environment for their students.”
OECD: Increased investment in education - way out of financial crisis to growth and prosperity
PPTA had looked at the way other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries had responded to the financial crisis when drawing up the claim, Kate said.
OECD countries had responded in three kinds of ways, she said.
The first, which included a group of countries in Eastern Europe (such as Hungary, Romania, the Czech Republic and Serbia1) responded by cutting spending on education. The second, including Latin America, responded by protecting and maintaining investment in the education budget and the third, which included countries such as Australia and Canada, had responded by increasing investment in education as a way out of the financial crisis and towards growth and prosperity for all.
Already New Zealand’s education expenditure per school student is below the OECD mean, according to the Education Counts statistics website.
“Effective schools require the right combination of trained and talented personnel, adequate facilities, state-of-the-art equipment and motivated students ready to learn,” it said.
Kate said PPTA would be interested to know which group the government wanted to be in. With the budget cuts it has been signalling it appears to wish to join Eastern Europe.
“We would like to see unequivocal evidence that the government wants to be in group three and is going to support teachers to do the best possible job for New Zealand students,” she said.
1. Education and the Global Economic Crisis: Summary of results of the follow-up survey, Education International, December 2009, updated February 2010.
 PPTA News April 2010 - Claiming quality p.5
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