PPTA

(31 August 2011) The purpose of this paper is to provide PPTA members with a platform to advocate for an alternative economic model that promotes the production of equitable wealth and educational opportunities.  PPTA’s constitution requires us to advance the interests of secondary teachers and secondary schooling. We have long held that the interests of secondary schooling include the interests of our students.  In the past three years, it has become increasingly apparent to the Executive that, in order to fully engage in contesting for those interests, the Association would benefit from providing an economic perspective.  This paper seeks to begin the process of policy development by considering the economic models that governments have drawn on over the last century and, in particular assessing the impact of the past nearly 30 years of neoliberal economic policies on New Zealand. The paper contests the view that there is no viable alternative to the current economic approach.

(31 August 2011)  This paper considers the reasons why the collective bargaining process for secondary teachers and principals has become so fractious and adversarial. One would think that if all the parties were committed to the best outcomes for students and were informed by the best research about secondary education, common ground would emerge immediately and a settlement would follow soon after. The paper examines the reasons why the notion of collaborative educational change with unions as active partners has proved so elusive in New Zealand, except for a brief period (2003 to 2010) when the Ministerial Task Force proposals were in place. The recommendation calls on PPTA to pressure political parties to develop a more constructive approach to national bargaining.

(31 August 2011) The purpose of this paper is two-fold: to bring members up to date with the current status of educative mentoring in New Zealand secondary schools, and to make recommendations on how to further support the training and work of mentors.There is now wide recognition that used in the right context, educative mentoring offers a powerful lever to develop and support quality teaching in secondary and area schools.Provisionally registered teachers have a right to a quality programme of induction and mentoring, which needs to be ‘hard wired’ into schools’ regular business.Mentoring skills have also been identified as a key career development area for experienced teachers, middle and senior management, and principals.Network Learning Communities offer a forum for developing good mentoring practice and sharing knowledge.

(31 August 2011) Rule 14(i) in the PPTA constitution assumed that each school would have only one PPTA branch. It did not envisage the situation we have now, where a single school may have a national existence. For example, Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (The Correspondence School) now has full sites throughout New Zealand; the trend to multi-campus schools is expected to continue. This constitutional change is to validate the existence of those PPTA branches that operate as part of a national entity but on separate sites.

(31 August 2011) This paper updates members on progress on our class size control claims.It considers parent concerns about issues related to class size, as well as the current political context.  The paper seeks direction from members on the direction the Executive should follow for our class size campaign.

(31 August 2011) This paper carries on from the work that the 2010 PPTA Conference did around making the NCEA workload more manageable. It summarises the efforts made to date to reduce workload and includes appendices that list the proposals made by the NZQA Workload Group (Appendix 1) for reducing workload, and the response from NZQA and the Ministry of Education to the proposals (Appendix 2). Reducing the amount of moderation, reducing the number of credits per course and providing more Teacher Only Days are all seen as critical to a long-term solution. The paper also considers initiatives at the secondary/tertiary interface and questions whether the money being removed from secondary schools to support the youth guarantee policy is really the best thing for students and the best use of the funding. The paper is also critical of the Careers New Zealand proposal to assist careers advisors by providing them with performance benchmarks when they really need time and professional support to do the job.

(31 August 2011) One page summary of annual conference paper "Summary: Supporting teachers to do their jobs: There’s got to be a better way"

(31 August 2011) One page summary of annual conference paper "There Is Always A Reasonable Alternative (TIAARA); not TINA (There Is No Alternative)"

(31 August 2011) One page summary of conference paper "Summary: Nau te rourou, Naku te rourou . . . Educative mentoring"

(31 August 2011) One page summary of annual conference paper "Class Size – The Struggle Continues"

(31 August 2011) One page summary of annual conference paper "Constitutional Amendment"

(31 August 2011) One page summary of the annual conference paper "Accelerated Change in the Secondary School".