Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement

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Email: employment.relations@education.govt.nz

Part 1: Coverage

Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement
Effective: 1 July 2019 to 30 June 2022

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  • 1.1 Parties
    • The parties to this collective agreement (Agreement) are:

        1. The Secretary for Education (the Secretary) acting under delegation from the State Services Commissioner made pursuant to section 23 of the State Sector Act 1988 and acting in accordance with section 74(5) of the State Sector Act 1988 (as amended by the Employment Relations Act 2000); and
        2. The New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI Te Riu Roa).
  • 1.2 Application
    • This Agreement shall be binding on:

        1. Each employee who comes within the coverage clause and who is or becomes a member of NZEI Te Riu Roa.
        2. Each employer, as defined in 1.6.4 below.
  • 1.3 Coverage
        1. This Agreement covers work undertaken in state and state-integrated schools by employees (as defined in (b) below) in:
            1. Primary schools (including normal schools, model schools, and intermediate schools);
            2. Composite schools (other than area schools) including Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu primary section and the primary section of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu Specialist Services;
            3. Special schools;
            4. Intermediate departments, special classes or attached special education units of secondary schools;
          and shall include any such school that is also established as a kura kaupapa Māori or that has any additional designation or status under the Education Acts 1964 and 1989.
        2. For the purposes of 1.3(a) above employees are:
            1. Teachers;
            2. Speech language therapists; and
            3. Untrained employees in teacher positions.
        3. This Agreement does not apply to teachers in composite schools who predominantly teach students classified as year 9 or above.
        4. This Agreement does not apply to principals.
        5. This Agreement shall apply to those Resource Teachers Learning and Behaviour (RTLB) who were no longer covered by clause 1.3(a) of the Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement 2010-2012 after 28 January 2012 (but who were covered by it as at 27 January 2012) and who accept employment in the new lead employing school, so long as they remain employed as an RTLB in that lead employing school and remain a member of the NZEI Te Riu Roa.
  • 1.4 Term of Agreement
    • This Agreement shall come into force on 1 July 2019 and shall expire on 30 June 2022, except as provided for under section 53 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

  • 1.5 Variations
    • The parties agree that the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement may be varied at any time by written agreement between NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Secretary, acting under delegation from the State Services Commissioner made pursuant to section 23 of the State Sector Act 1988, in accordance with section 74 of the State Sector Act 1988. Any such variation agreed shall be binding on employees and employers of those employees covered by this Agreement in accordance with section 74(6) of the State Sector Act 1988 (as amended by the Employment Relations Act 2000).

  • 1.6 Definitions
    • The following definitions apply for the purposes of this Agreement unless specified otherwise:

      1.6.1 'Area school’ shall have the meaning ascribed in the Education (School Staffing) Order for the time being in force.

      1.6.2 ‘Composite school’ shall mean a school classified as a composite school under the Education Act 1989.

      1.6.3 ‘Correspondence school’ shall mean a school classified as a correspondence school under the Education Act 1989.

      1.6.4 ‘Employer’ shall mean a Board of Trustees constituted pursuant to the Education Acts 1964 and 1989 (or where a Commissioner has been appointed under Part 9 of the Education Act 1989 to act in place of the Board of Trustees, that Commissioner) of a state or state-integrated school that employs employees falling within the coverage as set out in 1.3.

      (Note: In relation to a dispute about the interpretation, application or operation of this Agreement, the employer shall act, if the Secretary acting under delegation from the State Services Commissioner made pursuant to section 23 of the State Sector Act 1988 so requires, together with or in consultation with the Secretary acting pursuant to section 74A(b) of the State Sector Act 1988.)

      1.6.5 ‘Institute’ or ‘union’ shall mean the NZEI Te Riu Roa.

      1.6.6 ‘Intermediate department in a secondary school’ shall mean a department classified as such under the Education Act 1989.

      1.6.7 ‘Primary school’ shall mean a school classified as a primary school or an intermediate school under the Education Act 1989.

      1.6.8 ‘Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement’ ("PTCA" or "the Agreement") shall mean the Primary Teachers’ (including Deputy and Assistant Principals and other Unit Holders) Collective Agreement 2019-2022.

      1.6.9 ‘Relievers’

        • Long term relievers are fixed term employees employed for a continuous period beyond three weeks. The employment of long term relievers is not limited to relieving in a permanent teacher position.
        • Short term relievers are fixed term employees who are temporarily employed on a casual basis to relieve in a permanent teacher position for a period not exceeding three weeks.

      1.6.10 ‘School Day’ shall mean a day on which the school is open for instruction.

      1.6.11 ‘Secondary school’ shall mean a school classified as a secondary school under the Education Act 1989.

      1.6.12 ‘Special School’ shall mean a school classified as a special school under the Education Act 1964.

      1.6.13 ‘Start of the school year’ shall mean (regardless of the first day schools are open for instruction in Term 1) for normal pay and employment purposes:

        • 28 January for all teachers: except
        • For teachers being employed for the first time in a state or state-integrated school, or being employed after a break in service, their start day is as advised to payroll by the employer.

      1.6.14 ‘Teacher’ shall mean a primary teacher who has been fully certificated or provisionally certificated or certificated subject to confirmation by the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand (Teaching Council) and shall include, without limitation:

        • Unit holders including deputy and assistant principals;
        • Teachers and unit holders on the ‘Q’ scale;
        • Resource teachers; and
        • Primary trained liaison teachers employed by Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu.

      1.6.15 ‘Untrained employee’ shall mean an employee without recognised teacher training qualification(s) who is employed in a teacher position.

      1.6.16 For the purposes of Part 9 and Appendix 4 of this Agreement, ’30 school weeks’ shall mean 150 school days.

  • 1.7 Declaration Pursuant to the State Sector Act
    • Pursuant to section 75 of the State Sector Act 1988 the Secretary acting pursuant to the delegated authority of the State Services Commissioner has declared that all of the conditions contained in this Agreement are actual conditions of employment provided that the Secretary may from time to time give approval to the salary rates or allowances being treated as minimum rates where there is agreement to this between the employer and any of its employees.