Section 6: Referrals

Here is a list of possible situations and resources for supporting staff. 

• Professional relationship breakdown:  

• • If you are supporting someone going through a breakdown in a professional working relationship, you should remember to stay impartial and simply refer the staff member to the appropriate channels to solve the issue. You can be a source of support, but your involvement in the situation should be carefully managed depending on the situation. While you might be the right person to be referred to in some situations, in many situations you are not responsible for solving the problem. Make sure you have told the staff member to contact your PPTA Te Wehengarua Branch Chair or Field Officer for support, to help guide them through the situation. 

• • If you are the person going through a professional relationship breakdown, you should ensure that you are engaging in the processes your school has in place. This could include reflective meetings, restorative meetings and so on. You should also contact your PPTA Te Wehengarua Branch Chair if you are concerned, and they can help guide you through the situation.  

• Stress, overload, emotional and mental health 

• • Employee assistance programmes (EAP) assist with a range of emotional and mental health-based situations teachers are experiencing both in and out of school. These programmes are maintained by individual schools and may involve a range of external agencies. Your school will have someone whose responsibility it is to manage this, such as a DP (Pastoral) or School Counsellor. Staff members should self-refer, so make sure you know who to refer them to.  

• • If teachers feel they are being asked to do more than should be expected from their role, it may be worth them having a discussion with their PPTA Te Wehengarua Branch Chair or Field Officer.  

• Behavioural Management 

• • Deans and Pastoral DPs can be useful sources of support when a teacher is struggling with behaviour from a particular class or student.  

• • It may be appropriate to refer a teacher to RTLB, the LSC or SENCO in some cases.  

• Subject specific planning and resourcing 

• • HODs and colleagues can often provide appropriate support with planning and creating resources. 

• • Teachers who are a ‘one-man-show' in your school should be encouraged to reach out to their subject association for subject-specific support. It can also be useful to reach out to the SCT Association as they can often provide contact details of SCTs from nearby schools who may be able to refer the teacher to a colleague at their school who is able to assist.  

• Outside Providers of PLD – There are a number of outside providers of PLD. Below are a few who have been highly recommended by SCTs.  

• • Margaret Ross – HELP Behaviours (Behaviour Management) 

• • Leading by Learning – Evaluate (Navigating Difficult Conversations) 

• • Jim Knight – The Instructional Coaching Group (Impact Coaching) 

• • Tātai Aho Rau CORE Education (PD for PCT’s with Mentors)