The union representing secondary teachers is hopeful a resolution has been found in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions in the classroom.
The government has agreed to a recommendation by the Independent Arbitration Panel to increase the salaries of secondary school teachers by 14.5 per cent by December 2024.
The PPTA - Te Wehengarua executive will recommend its members vote to accept the offer next week when electronic voting is opened.
Education Minister Jan Tinetti said today the panel’s recommendation would add $680 million to the $3.76 billion already set aside in this year’s budget to settle teachers’ and principals’ agreements.
“This includes an increase to other education collective agreements that will flow on from this decision,” Tinetti said.
“I know how disruptive the past few months have been for our students, young people and their parents. We all want our young people back in the classroom learning, and this offer reinforces our commitment to that.”
The pay increase, if accepted, would see beginning teachers earn $61,329 in 2024, an increase of 23.5 per cent since 2017. Teachers at the top end of the scale would have an increase of 36 per cent, up to $103,085 since 2017.
‘Significant step’
“We are very pleased the government has acted in good faith and accepted the panel’s recommendations,” PPTA Te Wehengarua acting president Chris Abercrombie said
“We commend the arbitration panel for its mahi and its commitment to finding a satisfactory settlement of our collective agreement. Of course, it is not everything we wanted but it’s a significant step on the path to making secondary teaching a profession that people want to join and stay in.”
To meet the increased funding requirements, Tinetti said $374m hds been found in the education budget through savings in Ministry of Education funding, a forecast of staffing underspend, and deferring Hamilton’s Te Ao Marama and Auckland’s Hobsonville Point secondary school projects. The reimbursement for the underuse of banked staffing in all schools, excluding kaupapa Māori and Māori medium education, would also be removed.
“Banking staffing” is the tool schools use to manage their staffing entitlements. If a school underuses its entitlement, it will be paid back into the school’s operational funding at a weighted midpoint average annual salary rate per full-time teacher equivalent.
Tinetti said allowing kaupapa Māori and Māori medium schools to continue being reimbursed was a reflection of their struggles to staff their classrooms.
“What that means is, we have a shortage of reo teachers. And there are different ways that they use their funding within that - and we want to be able to use that to encourage to provide outstanding reo Māori programmes within their kura.
“The remaining $306 million will be pre-committed to the Budget 2024 allowance, specifically to the cost pressure allocation which the Minister of Finance sets at the start of the Budget process. This is a balanced approach to increasing the pay of an important front-line workforce while dealing with the broader fiscal pressures that the government faces.
“We’re proud of this offer and we hope the PPTA will be too,” Tinetti said.
