Filter Content
Tēnā koutou, Tēnā koutou, Tēnā koutou katoa.
Ko Puketotara te maunga i roto i te Waionui o Tirewa,
Ko Wai o Pariera te awa,
Ko Waitemata te moana,
Ko Crystal Marie te waka,
Ko Ngāti Pākeha te iwi,
Ko Cherie Taylor-Patel tōku ingoa,
Kia ora e te whanau.
Welcome back to school! It has been a stunning summer everywhere, so I hope you were able to take time-out to immerse yourself in the beautiful outdoors of Aotearoa, walking, swimming, biking, reading, and relaxing with whanau and friends.
Thank you for electing me as your NZPF President for 2022. I follow a long line of exceptional leaders, who have used their voices to influence education policy and create changes that have made a positive difference to school leadership, and to lifting the quality of education for tamariki in Aotearoa. I will be doing my best to follow their example. Thank you too, to the Flanshaw Road School Board of Trustees, Maggie Reid, the leadership team, teachers, staff, and whanau, for supporting me to take up this position.
2022 – The year of Omicron
The year changed for everyone on Saturday, 22nd January, when it was announced the whole country would be going into the Red Setting of the Covid Protection Framework, in anticipation of the onset of the Omicron COVID variant.
Since 2020, as a country and a school sector, we have all worked with flexibility, agility, and speed through the logistics of mitigating the risk of COVID, in a huge range of contexts. We have kept our tamariki safe, infected case numbers low and our death rate is one of the lowest in the world. This year, I am sure you will face the Omicron challenge with the same leadership commitment, courage, and care for your communities as you have done over the last two years.
Ministry updates will keep coming, as the Omicron variant takes hold. What is predictable, is that we will be in a constant state of ‘review, rethink and go again’ to strengthen the layers of protection to keep our communities safe. There is no perfect solution to every situation and guidelines you receive will not cover every scenario you encounter. We are a collaborative profession, and I would like to acknowledge the leadership of principals’ associations across the country, who in the last month, have brought principals together, led forums and supported colleagues to plan for Omicron. None of us does this mahi alone, so please seek support as you need it.
Help available to you includes the NZPF Helpline, NZEI Principal Liaison Officers, SPANZ Helpline, Te Akatea Executive members, Ministry Senior Advisors and First-time Principal Advisors, as well as your cluster and Kahui Ako colleagues.
Challenges and Opportunities:
In the last two years, the COVID pandemic has exposed deeply embedded inequities in our education system, and it has been said “One should never waste a good crisis”. As parts of our system become unfit for purpose, we have an opportunity to think about what a ‘new normal’ could be and should be, in a ‘Post-Covid’ era. Imagining a ‘preferred future’, I have been wondering. Is this the time to:
- Build upon the partnerships we have with our Ministers and Ministry of Education, so educators have a stronger voice, and systemic opportunities, to inform, support and lead a world-class, post-Covid education recovery plan?
- Redefine and strengthen our vision for school leaders in Aotearoa, as leaders of learning in a bi-cultural nation, as ‘culturally-centred’ community leaders in multicultural contexts, and as ‘world class crises leaders’.
- Design and lead an eco-system of leadership professional development that will support us equitably, at all stages of our career?
- Embed specific support for principal hauora and well-being in our system, so we build ketes of knowledge, skills and attributes, needed to support ourselves, and our communities’ well-being, with all that entails?
- Refocus on leading learning, within and across schools, using curriculum content and pedagogies that motivate and engage all students to achieve success – that is, ‘success’ as it is redefined in a ‘post-Covid’ era?
- Get connected, be connected, and stay connected, so principals’ collective voice is amplified through our system in local, regional, national, and international forums?
The New Zealand Principals Federation currently represents 83% of all principals in Aotearoa. As your professional body, we represent you across a wide range of professional issues, at all levels of the system. Through NZPF, you can join the Principals’ Advice and Support Scheme Limited (PASL), which provides legal advice for NZPF members. This year primary principals also have opportunity to join the Primary Principals Collective Bargaining union (PPCB). Subscription information will be available next week.
Finally, I have included a poll that I hope you will click on. It is designed to give you an insight into our collective thinking around ‘what’s on top’ each week, as we go through the year.
Wondering of the week
How are we feeling as we start the 2022 school year?
Poll is closed
Go well. Stay safe, as you strive to be that steadfast rock, in the turbulent sea that is the start of 2022. Please stay in touch. Your korero and feedback is valued and appreciated.
Ngā manaakitanga
Cherie Taylor-Patel
cherie.taylor-patel@nzpf.ac.nz
PPCB
PPCB exists to be a powerful “by principals for principals’ voice, within the collective bargaining process for the Primary Principals’ Collective Agreement.
Our union represents a modern, collaborative view of the principle of collectivism that underpins representation in the workplace and we have a growing membership base. A higher quality of outcome will be generated for primary principals with PPCB at the bargaining table.
Principal voice has been diluted in past collective bargaining rounds. PPCB will protect principals’ voices from being subsumed by other voices in the vast education workforce and is determined to bring a strong focus to principals’ concerns and aspirations.
Real problems of practice will be brought to the fore and we will energetically challenge conventions that need urgent change in the modern workplace.
PPCB is singularly focused on Collective Bargaining. While advice about the terms and conditions of the Collective Agreement will be available through PPCB, it is not intended to give other legal or industrial advice to members.
Should employment related advice and support be required, members can subscribe to the NZPF Principals’ Advice and Support Limited (PASL), which provides legal support services to members.
The fee to join PPCB is deliberately set at a low rate. This makes subscription to both PASL and PPCB affordable. By subscribing to both entities, principals set themselves up across a suite of services to be well represented in the terms and conditions of their employment and well supported in managing the risks associated with their employment.
The Primary Principals’ Collective Bargaining (PPCB) offers a genuine shift in the workplace conditions of principals’ employment.
I invite you to join our growing, grassroots membership to win better conditions for principals. The link will go live next week.
Mā te Tumuaki, mō te Tumuaki!
Denise Torrey, Head of Union
2022 NZPF Moot
Last year we indicated through this newsletter, that the 2022 NZPF Moot would be held on 18 March, 2022. Due to the current predictions that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 is likely to be peaking around that time, the NZPF executive has decided to postpone the Moot and has instead set the date of Friday 10 June for the 2022 Moot.
If you are a president of your local principals' association this year, please record this date in your diary. We shall keep you updated with any further information you need to prepare for the Moot.
NZPF Awards
The following awards are available to NZPF members:
- Don Le Prou Award
- Tauri Morgan Memorial Award
- PLD Grants for Principals' Association
Click here for further details. Applications close 1 March.
NZ Principal Magazine also Online
You and/or your team members can easily access the NZ Principal Magazines online, as an e-magazine or as a PDF. Additionally you can search for a previous issue, an article by title or by the author of the article. All magazines back to Term 1 2012 are available in this format. To view or search click here.
Deaf Children and Teacher Mask Wearing
Deaf Children New Zealand supports the health imperative for mandatory mask wearing as the Omicron COVID variant circulates. For deaf children, who rely heavily on lipreading to get the full meaning of conversations, masks can be a barrier to communication. This applies equally to children with aided hearing such as cochlear implants or hearing aids as they supplement the poor clarity of their devices with lip reading and for those teachers using FM/Remote microphones for their deaf students, the mask muffles the sound.
A mask exemption is in place for teachers with Deaf/ Hard of Hearing children and it is at the discretion of staff as to whether they choose to use the exemption. Deaf Children New Zealand would encourage teachers to apply the exemption.
Below are a few suggestions to consider for your deaf children while we live with Omicron:
- Use more visual resources
- Use technology, e.g. speech-to-text app on devices e.g. google chat or Otter
- Consider trying a mask that has a clear window so people can read your lips this one or https://www.environmenstruals.co.nz/
- Increase use of Resource Teachers of the Deaf and NZSL if the child signs
- Be patient - remember children who are deaf and hard of hearing may be struggling with communication and may feel overwhelmed during this time.
- Allow more rest time
- Ask frequently for feedback from the student
- Correct operation of hearing devices such as hearing aids and FM/RM systems are more important than ever - consider ‘sound tests’ with the child, or asking an ASSIST or AoDC to visit the class to check
- Use subtitles/captions on videos, especially if speakers are wearing masks
- Consider teacher aides, especially during tests
- Invite the child and family to school to create an IEP, to incorporate their views on how they can help their child access the curriculum while masks are being used
You can access more information through these links.
- https://covid19.govt.nz/prepare-and-stay-safe/keep-up-healthy-habits/wear-a-face-mask/who-does-not-need-to-wear-a-face-mask/
- https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/460621/fears-mask-mandate-will-set-back-learning-for-deaf-hard-of-hearing-students
- https://www.education.govt.nz/covid-19/advice-for-everyone/mask-guidance/#sh-deaf%20children%20masks%20exemption
Katie McMenamin
Executive Committee President
Deaf Children NZ | Tamariki Turi O Aotearoa
Freephone 0800 332 324
www.deafchildren.org.nz
NZPF assures its business partners that, as members, you will contact them to have a conversation if you are purchasing products, services or solutions for your schools that a business partner supplies. Please support our partners as their assistance to NZPF means better membership services to you.
