Changes to the Area School Principals' Collective Agreement 2023-25

All full-time area school principals employed as at 3 July 2023 who are union members will receive a one-off gross payment of $1,500. This payment will be pro-rated for part-time principals based on their full-time teaching equivalent (FTTE) hours as at 3 July 2023. Union-member principals will receive this payment in pay period 14 on 3 October 2023.

For non-union principals to be eligible for this lump sum payment, schools must ensure that both the principal and the employer have signed the new IEA by 22 September 2023.

Schools are responsible for ensuring that the payroll system reflects the IEA change, enabling non-union principals to receive the payment. Depending on when paperwork is submitted to EdPay, the earliest date for the lump sum to be paid is pay period 17 on 14 November 2023.

Principals are entitled to receive this payment only once. If a principal is or was entitled to receive a lump sum under another collective agreement that has come into force since 30 November 2022, any payment already received will be deducted from this lump sum.

Principals who were on approved unpaid leave as at 3 July 2023 are entitled, on application, to receive the $1,500 payment on their return to their position providing that they return on or before the end of Term 3 2024, or on or before the start of Term 1 2025 for those on parental leave. The amount payable will be based on the principal’s FTTE hours as at their last working day before going on leave.

The parties to this collective agreement recognise the value in their ongoing and productive relationship, including their joint efforts to build an environment in which the teaching profession is highly regarded, sustainable, and is fit for now and the future of learning. Collective bargaining is a key part of those joint efforts.

In recognition of the benefits arising out of the parties’ relationship, including the role of NZEI Te Riu Roa and PPTA Te Wehengarua in negotiating terms and conditions for area school principals, each principal who is a member of NZEI Te Riu Roa or PPTA Te Wehengarua as at 27 July 2023 will receive two additional payments in pay period 14 (3 October 2023). A third additional payment is due to principals who are members of NZEI Te Riu Roa or PPTA Te Wehengarua as at 1 December 2023.

These payments are as follows:

• $710 payable to each union member bound by this Collective Agreement as at 27 July 2023. The payment is not pro-rated; it will be paid in full to all eligible principals. The payment has been calculated to provide a net amount broadly equivalent to the cost of renewing a teaching practising certificate. 
• $2,000 payable to each union member bound by this Collective Agreement as at 27 July 2023. The payment is pro-rated for part-time principals based on their full-time teacher equivalent (FTTE) hours as at 27 July 2023.
• An additional payment of $1,000 is payable to each union member bound by this Collective Agreement as at 1 December 2023. The payment is pro-rated for part-time principals based on their (FFTE) hours as at 1 December 2023. 

Principals are entitled to receive the above payments only once. If a principal is or was entitled to receive a lump sum under another collective agreement that has come into force since 30 November 2022, any payment already received will be deducted from this lump sum.

Principals who were on approved unpaid leave as at 27 July 2023 or 1 December 2023 are entitled, on application, to receive the payments on their return to their position providing that they return on or before the end of Term 3 2024, or on or before the start of Term 1 2025 for those on parental leave. The amount payable will be based on the principal’s FTTE hours as at their last working day before going on leave.

For each of the 2023 and 2024 school years, area school principals will have access to funding of up to $6,000 per annum for professional coaching and support for their leadership role. This is intended to support ongoing coaching, professional learning and development that assist with principals’ leadership capability.

The additional funding will be tagged in schools’ operational funding grants for the purposes of professional coaching and support for principals.

More information and guidance on how the allowance can be used is now available.

Professional coaching and wellbeing support funding access – Ministry of Education(external link)

The purpose of the Māori Immersion Teaching Allowance (MITA) is to recognise te reo Māori as a taonga to be actively protected under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and to recognise the skills and knowledge kaiako and tumuaki must have to teach the curriculum in te reo Māori.

Principals are eligible for the MITA if they meet the following requirements: 

1. They must teach te reo Māori immersion classes at levels one, two or three for at least six timetabled hours per week.
2. They need to meet the minimum teaching time requirements for the specific level of immersion.
3. They must have the language proficiency necessary to effectively teach the curriculum in te reo Māori for the period required by the language immersion level in which they are teaching.

From 27 July 2023, the MITA will increase for Levels 1 and 2. Rates will increase up to a maximum of $12,000 per annum for immersion Level 1 and a maximum of $8,000 per annum for immersion Level 2. The rate increases from the base to the maximum will depend on years of service at that level.

The allowance will also be introduced for tumuaki teaching te reo Māori immersion classes at Level 3 from 27 July 2023.

Each allowance will be pro-rated for part-time principals based on the total hours taught in te reo Māori by the part-time principal.

The purpose of sabbatical leave is to provide a paid period of leave during a principal's career, to engage in a balance of professional learning, reflection and rejuvenation.

The number of paid sabbaticals awarded annually for area school principals will increase to 18 from the start of the 2024 school year.

The Collective Agreement parties are working to simplify the application form, including the programme outline requirements, time commitments and reporting. This work will be completed and implemented ahead of the 2024 application round opening.

The wording of the Collective Agreement has been updated to reflect the introduction of the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) by the Teaching Council Matatū Aotearoa and the removal of mandatory performance agreements and annual appraisals.

Area School Principals’ Collective Agreement Part 4: Professional Leadership and Growth – Ministry of Education(external link)

The PGC is a growth-focused process promoting engagement in professional learning networks and supporting school leaders to successfully undertake the unique complexity of their role.

More information on the PGC and the benefits for school leaders can be found on the Teaching Council Matatū Aotearoa website:

Professional Growth Cycle – Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand(external link)

Effective from 3 July 2023, up to seven days' leave with or without pay may be granted to an area school principal who is:

1. required or directed not to attend school because of a Public Health Order, and is not eligible for disregarded sick leave and cannot work remotely; or,
2. unable to attend school because of a natural disaster and cannot work remotely.

More detailed guidance for the following provisions will be provided closer to the effective dates:

• Cultural Leadership allowance, effective 28 January 2024.
• Pacific Bilingual Immersion Teaching allowance, effective 28 January 2024.
• Replacement of decile-based payments with an Equity Index-based payment, effective 28 January 2024.
• Improved sick leave entitlement, effective 28 January 2024.