Kia tau te rangimārie ki a koutou 

On Wednesday 31 March, I was asked to present to the Pūaotanga Independent Staffing Review of Primary Schools.  The invite came at late notice but I did manage to get some time to sit and reflect upon the issues before attending my session last Wednesday afternoon. Our current education environment is becoming more complex and our schools are having to increasingly respond to a range of societal issues and governmental priorities.  At times it must feel to our boards, principals and teachers like ‘Death by a Thousand Initiatives’ and the complexity and constant change is having an impact on the ability of schools to focus on the development of high quality teaching and learning in their communities. Nearly ever initiative has merit but the capacity of the sector to engage across the range of current work programmes is being stretched and this is having a negative affect upon the health and wellbeing of the staff in our schools.  There is considerable research on change management that suggests that schools can only cope with two or three major changes or initiatives at one time and that it takes 3-5 years of work in any major change to embed the pedagogical elements to the extent that it becomes ‘practice as normal’. 

Add to these changes the current COVID-19 pandemic, societal changes leading to poverty, abuse, increased drug use, rising levels of violent behaviour, anxiety, growing numbers of students with learning deficits and special needs and we have an almost perfect storm of challenges for the education system.  Despite all of this, it is laudable that the state integrated system continues to achieve such positive educational, pastoral and spiritual outcomes.  However, at the same time we do not want to take this effort from staff in our schools for granted as they deserve to have the necessary conditions to thrive in their professional role and it was with this in mind that I attended the Pūaotanga Independent Staffing Review of Primary Schools. 

Primary schools across New Zealand, including those in the state integrated sector, are desperately in need of an injection of resources to support the challenges faced at both teaching and leadership level.  Non contact time is very limited for our primary school teachers, often no more than two hours a week, and both management units and non contact time are very limited for the leaders in our primary schools.  We have a current shortage of teachers who will willingly take on the responsibilty of the DRS given that it often comes without any time allowance despite being a very busy and time consuming role. This is also reflected for our DPs, APs, and our teaching principals who have one of the biggest challenges of all. 

Added to this is the increasing complexity in the classroom for teachers who are asked to become therapists, counsellors and special education specialists.  There is a desperate need for counselling time in our primary schools as well as specialist SENCOs who can support classroom teachers who are often left to cope with two, three or more students with significant needs which are beyond the abilities of a classroom teacher to manage effectively.  Both our students and school staff deserve the opportunity to thrive and to reach their full potential – that is the basis of human dignity and I felt a clear obligation to advocate on behalf of our wonderful primary schools and their staff.  I hope that I have respected your commitment, love of students and desire to have working conditions that support your important work in my submission. 

I would like to take the time to thank all state integrated schools for their work in completing non preference policies to support prospective parents to understand the selection and priority process in accepting non preference students into our schools.  I know this was not the highest priority for many schools but we needed to display for the Minister of Education our willingness to engage in this work as it was something that he had great interest in.  Equitable and transparent access to state integrated schools is just one sign that our sector is in partnership with the state education system and is more important than many of you might think for both this current government and the state integrated education system. 

I would like to thank all of our proprietors, boards, staff and students for their efforts over term one. Once again our Auckland whānau have shouldered significant challenges but having visited a number of schools in Christchurch and Auckland recently it was pleasing to see everyone in such good heart. 

Mā te Atua koutou katoa e tiaki, e manaaki. 

Kevin Shore 

CEO APIS 

Recent employment court decisions have brought about a renewed focus on the use of fixed term employment agreements (FTEAs) in schools.

NZSTA has developed new FTEA resources and guidance to enable school boards to understand these changes and manage their impact on staff.

please familiarise yourself with the information and resources on the dedicated FTEA webpages.

If you have an FTEA template that you have been using previously, please ensure you use the updated FTEA templates. It is important that you DO NOT continue to use your historical documentation.

For more background information: While there are legitimate reasons for employing staff on FTEAs, schools may be exposed to a legal challenge for employing staff on FTEAs that do not meet the tests set out in Section 66 of the Employment Relations Act.

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