Primary Teachers' Collective Agreement

The parties to this collective agreement (Agreement) are:

1. 1. The Secretary for Education (the Secretary) acting under delegation from the Public Service Commissioner made pursuant to clause 6 of schedule 3 of the Public Service Act 2020 and acting in accordance with section 586 (5) of the Education and Training Act 2020; and
   2. The New Zealand Educational Institute Te Riu Roa (NZEI Te Riu Roa).

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. 1. This Agreement covers work undertaken in state and state-integrated schools by employees (as defined in (b) below) in:
      1. 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. Specialist 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 and Training Act 2020.
   2. For the purposes of 1.3(a) above employees are:
      1. 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.

This Agreement shall come into force on 3 July 2023 and shall expire on 2 July 2025, except as provided for under section 53 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

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 Public Service Commissioner made pursuant to clause 6 of schedule 3 of the Public Service Act 2020, in accordance with section 586 of the Education and Training Act 2020. Any such variation agreed shall be binding on employees and employers of those employees covered by this Agreement in accordance with section 586 (6) of the Education and Training Act 2020.

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

1.6.1 ‘Area school’ shall mean a composite school that offers education to students in all of Years 1–13.

1.6.2 ‘Composite school’ shall mean a school classified as a composite school under the Education and Training Act 2020.

1.6.3 ‘Correspondence school’ shall mean a school classified as a correspondence school under the Education and Training Act 2020.

1.6.4 ‘Employer’ shall mean a school board constituted pursuant to the Education and Training Act 2020 (or where a Commissioner has been appointed under the intervention in state schools section of the Education and Training Act 2020 to act in place of the school board) 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 Public Service Commissioner made pursuant to clause 6 of schedule 3 of the Public Service Act 2020 so requires, together with or in consultation with the Secretary acting pursuant to section 591(b) of the Education and Training Act 2020.)

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 and Training Act 2020.

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 2023-2025.

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 and Training Act 2020.

1.6.12 ‘Specialist School’ shall mean a school classified as a special school under the Education and Training Act 2020.

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.

Pursuant to section 595 of the Education and Training Act 2020 the Secretary acting pursuant to the delegated authority of the Public Service 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.

1.8.1  The parties to this Agreement recognise the value in their ongoing and productive relationship, including their joint efforts to give effect to building 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 NZEI Te Riu Roa’s role in negotiating terms and conditions for primary teachers, each teacher who is a member of NZEI Te Riu Roa and is bound by this Agreement as at 12 June 2023 will be paid:

1. a one-off gross payment as follows:
   1. Full time teachers: $1,500
   2. Part time teachers: A pro-rated payment based on their full-time teacher equivalent (FTTE) as at 12 June 2023
   3. Short-term relievers, as defined in clause 1.6.9: a pro-rated payment, based on the total number of days worked between the start of Term 4, 2022 and 12 June 2023, and provided at least one day of short-term relief teaching was worked in Term 1 or 2, 2023.
      A teacher may be eligible to have the payment calculated under more than one category. The minimum payment for any teacher, regardless of FTTE, will be $150, and no teacher shall receive more than $1,500 gross in total.
2. A further $710 one off gross payment (the Teaching Council fees payment). Short-term relievers, as defined in clause 3.27.1(a), will receive the payment provided at least one day of short-term relief teaching was worked in Term 1 or 2, 2023. The Teaching Council fees payment is not pro-rated, but each teacher is only entitled to be paid it once. This means that if a teacher holds another teaching role(s) under coverage of this or another collective agreement, they will still only receive one Teaching Council fees payment. In such a case the Teaching Council fees payment shall only be paid to the teacher under the collective agreement binding the employee which is ratified first.

1.8.2  Employees who are bound by this Agreement as at 12 June 2023 and on that day were on approved unpaid leave under Part 4 of this collective agreement are entitled, upon application, to receive the payments on their return to their position providing that they return on or before the end of Term 1, 2024 or on or before Term 1, 2025 for those on parental leave. The payment will be based on the teacher’s FTTE as at their last working day before going on leave.

1.8.3  Additional payments for all teachers

A one-off gross payment of $3,000 will be paid to all full-time teachers employed on 12 June 2023.

The payment will be pro-rated for part-time teachers based on their full-time teacher equivalent (FTTE) as at 12 June 2023.

Short-term relievers, as defined in clause 1.6.9, will receive a pro-rated one-off gross payment, based on the total number of days worked between the start of Term 4, 2022 and 12 June 2023, and provided at least one day of short-term relief teaching was worked in Term 1 or 2, 2023. A teacher may be eligible to have the payment calculated under more than one category. The minimum payment for any teacher, regardless of FTTE, will be $300, and no teacher shall receive more than $3,000 gross in total.

1.8.4  Employees who are bound by this Agreement as at 12 June 2023 and on that day were on approved unpaid leave under Part 4 of this collective agreement are entitled, upon application, to receive the $3,000 payment on their return to their position providing that they return on or before the end of Term 1, 2024 or on or before Term 1, 2025 for those on parental leave. For the $3,000 payment, the amount payable will be based on the teacher’s FTTE as at their last working day before going on leave.