Ka puta Matariki, ka rere Whānui

Ko to tohu tēnā o te tau e!

Matariki re-appears, Whānui starts its flight

Being the sign of the new year!

Kia ora e te whānau

Status of the Profession

I have received several concerned emails from members this past week in relation to the NZEI pay negotiations for Principals.  NZPF has publicly recognised that alongside Principals’ wellbeing, support and workloads, pay is another factor that impacts on the status of the profession. 

For some time NZPF has been advocating for a lift in the status of the profession, particularly in the light of difficulties we have in recruiting high quality candidates to the teaching profession and in attracting senior teachers to aspire to principalship.

Whilst NZPF is not the organisation involved in pay negotiations, yesterday the NZPF executive met with NZEI President Lynda Stuart and National Secretary Paul Goulter.

It was an open an honest conversation focused on the government’s latest pay offer to principals.

Many of you have expressed your disappointment to NZPF that the latest offer is unchanged from the last and that U1 - 2 colleagues will be paid less than teachers at the top of the scale (with allowances).

These concerns were shared with Lynda and Paul and the executive advocated strongly that along with pay, the issues of workload, wellbeing and the status of the profession must be addressed. 

In the course of the discussions, it was agreed that it would be helpful to carefully read the Accord, which is a part of the offer, so that you are fully informed before entering the voting process.   

An invitation has been extended by Lynda Stuart, NZEI President, to three NZPF national executive members, including myself, to join a Principals’ Forum next week to further discuss options should the ballot result be to reject the current offer or to ratify the offer.  In this way, NZEI is demonstrating a real willingness to work with a range of principals to determine the next steps.

Matariki

Next week we celebrate Matariki (25 June).  Many of you focus on the festivities associated with Matariki and there now is an extensive collection of resources available to you from:

http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-resources/National-events-and-the-NZC/Matariki

These resources cover many different aspects of the NZ Curriculum so give your tamariki a broad learning experience through celebrating and having fun!

Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs)

Last week I indicated to you that I would be asking the Secretary for Education, Iona Holsted, about LSCs and and how they would be funded and allocated.  Below is the response from the Secretary’s Office:

“The first tranche of around 600 full-time equivalent Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) will start in schools and kura in 2020. LSCs will be registered teachers, employed by Boards of Trustees. They will work alongside classroom teachers, parents and other professionals to ensure children and young people with learning support needs get the right support at the right time. Some will work in more than one school but will still be employed by one of those schools.

The Ministry is working to finalise details of the LSC role and how the first tranche of LSCs will be allocated to schools and kura. Further LSCs will be funded in subsequent tranches, for which funding will be sought through normal Budget processes.

The LSC role will focus on five areas associated with learning support needs:

• support for students in schools and kura
• working with kaiako/teachers in schools and kura
• managing relationships with and support for parents, family and whānau
• working with other LSCs across a cluster of schools and connecting with the Ministry’s Learning Support Facilitator and a range of supports through the Learning Support Delivery Model
• working with the school or kura leadership team to ensure all students receive the appropriate support to enhance their learning and progress.

The LSC is a full time, dedicated role not an add-on to existing classroom teaching or management responsibilities. It is being funded separately with new funding not from existing funding.

The Learning Support Coordinator will work closely within the new Learning Support Delivery Model and as part of this will be supported by Ministry staff who will source services from within the Ministry, other providers and other agencies. The new model is being rolled out nationally and will be in all communities at various stages of implementation by the end of 2019.  

Schools can make whatever decision suits them and their circumstances about whether or not they retain their SENCO if they choose to.  As not all schools can receive LSC in the first tranche, many schools will want to continue with their SENCO, until further tranches of the LSC role are implemented so they can participate more readily in the expanding Learning Support Delivery Model. Funding for LSCs is in addition to schools’ current funding requirements and should not affect current employment arrangements for individuals.”

Until next week,

Ngā manaakitanga

Whetu Cormick
whetu@nzpf.ac.nz