Part-time teachers
PPTA Te Wehengarua guidance for part-time teachers wishing to understand their rights and obligations outlined in the Secondary Teachers' Collective Agreement (STCA) and the Area School Teachers' Collective Agreement (ASTCA)
All part-time teachers are eligible for membership of PPTA. The subscription rate is 1% of their fortnightly salary on the base scale. This is calculated fortnightly by Payroll and deducted at the source. Part-time teachers who are PPTA members are covered by the Secondary Teachers' Collective Agreement (STCA) or Area School Teachers' Collective Agreement (ASTCA).
I. Permanent tenure: Part-time teachers
The advantages of a permanent part-time position are considerable. These include for example:
(a) progression up the base scale at the same rate as full-time teachers;
(b) job security;
(c) coverage by surplus staffing provision in the collective agreements;
(d) eligibility for childcare salary credits;
(e) easier eligibility for parental grant;
(g) eligibility for the service increment.
The Employment Relations Act (ERA) 2000 has strict rules and limitations that apply to the creation of fixed term employment agreements. You can find information about this here.
The establishment of permanent part-time positions in state secondary and area schools is also an equal employment opportunities (EEO) issue and flexible working hours issue. The Education and Training Act requires all employers in the education service to have an employment policy that complies with the principle of being a good employer and includes an EEO programme. The STCA and ASTCA also require this (Clauses 3.1 and 2.1 respectively). Every state school EEO policy should specifically refer to the establishment of permanent part-time positions.
A part-time teacher may have part of their position permanent and other hours for a year which are not permanent. The teacher's payslip will show this as two lines on the payslip, one for the permanent job and another for the fixed term hours.
II. Appointments
Employers must send a letter of appointment to part-time teachers setting out the position the teacher is appointed. This letter must state the teacher’s hours of work and the letter should generally also identify the teacher’s corresponding full-time teacher equivalent (FTTE). It needs to be clear whether the appointment is permanent or fixed term. Where the appointment is for a fixed term, the requisite rules for fixed term appointments must be followed.
III. Surplus staffing
The criteria for selecting positions to be declared surplus if the roll falls are stated in the collective agreements in order of importance (STCA clause 3.9.3(d), ASTCA Appendix 5). The first criterion is curriculum balance and pastoral care. Therefore, it is not automatic that part-time teachers are the first to lose positions. If a part-time teacher is essential for curriculum coverage, their position will remain.
IV. Progression on the salary scale
Permanent part-time teachers receive their increments as they move up the salary scale on an annual basis whereas non-permanent part-time teachers receive their increments when they have accumulated sufficient service. This is 1000 hours under the STCA (STCA 4.2.3.(d)(iii)) and 950 hours under the ASTCA (ASTCA 3.26.5(b)).
V. Additional hours and day relief
A part-time teacher may be asked to temporarily work additional part-time hours. There are different ways this can happen i.e. by agreeing to a temporary variation to your existing hours or by setting up a separate fixed term employment agreement. Any work other than casual day relief will be paid at the teacher’s ordinary pay rate.
Part-time teachers can also pick up some short-term relief work. As usual, short-term relief work must be casual, on a fixed term contract and it cannot exceed 3 weeks’ duration. Any day relief work is a separate job and the payment for each full day is based on 1/190th of either a) the teacher’s salary step (full-time) or b) the step 6 annual salary rate (whichever is lower) for each full day of relief teaching.
VI. Non-contact time
a. Base entitlement
Part-time teachers receive a prorated amount of the base entitlement of the 5 weekly hours of non-contact time that full-time teachers receive. So, if you are employed for 0.6 FTTE, you will have an entitlement to at least 60% of the 5 hours of non-contact time that a full-time teacher would receive- so 3 hours.
Your full-time teacher equivalent (FTTE) is your total contact and non-contact hours (so, your total timetabled hours) divided by 25.
e.g. if you have 15 timetabled hours you are 15/25 = 0.6 FTTE
Conversely, you can work out your total timetabled hours by multiplying your FTTE by 25. Then, you can work out your base non-contact time entitlement:
Non-contact time = 15*0.2 = 3 hours (because 20% of your total timetabled hours are non-contact time)
OR
Non-contact time= 0.6*5 hours= 3 hours (because you will receive 60% of the 5 hour base entitlement)
That means out of your 15 timetabled hours, at least 3 hours will be non-contact time.
b. Additional time allowances
Your Collective Agreement provides certain additional time allowance entitlements dependent on your role (i.e. principal’s nominee, pastoral care responsibilities, whether you are a permanent unit holder etc.) These additional time allowances further reduce your contact time and they are not prorated. One example of how this works in practice is provided below in respect of beginning teacher time allowances.
c. Beginning teacher time allowances for part-time teachers
A first-year teacher who is part-time for more than 0.5 FTTE will be entitled to receive 0.1 FTTE (2.5 hours) beginning teacher time allowance during this first year of employment. This is in addition to the standard non-contact time entitlements that apply under the STCA. In practice, this means that a part-time, first year beginning teacher who is employed 0.6 FTTE will receive at least 5.5h per week non-contact time overall: Their overall timetabled hours are 15 hours (60% of 25 hours). Out of these 15 hours, 3 hours will be the base entitlement of release time (see above) and the teacher will additionally receive 2.5 hours of beginning teacher release time as per clause 3.8.1 of the STCA. Part-time teachers do not receive a beginning teacher time allowance in their second year of teaching (5th- 8th consecutive school term).
VII. Teaching Council certification
Part-time teachers usually need to be employed for at least a half teaching load (0.5 FTTE or 12.5 hours per week) for two years to move from a provisional to a full practising certificate. A provisionally certificated part-time teacher is entitled to a full programme of advice and guidance for two years before they are recommended for full certification. Part-time teachers who are certificated with a full Pūmau (Category 2) practising certificate must receive mentoring for a year to move to Tūtuturu (Category One). You can find more detailed information on the Teaching Council website.
VIII. Sick leave
Sick leave is generated by your aggregate employment as a teacher. Whether you are full-time or part-time is immaterial for the purposes of sick leave accrual: You accrue sick leave service at the full rate regardless of part-time or full-time employment status. Short-term relievers are somewhat of an exception to this: Each 190 short-term relieving days or 950 short-term relief hours are the equivalent of one year of service for sick leave purposes.
Last modified on Friday, 30 January 2026 13:23