Frequently asked questions about the collective agreement

Learn more the recent settlement of the Community Education Collective Agreement 2022-2025.

• About the collective agreement settlement
• Who is covered by this agreement? Who is not covered?
• How will employees move onto this new agreement?
• When do the new pay rates apply?
• What is different in this collective agreement?
• Why did the name of the collective agreement change?
• How will schools afford the increases rates?
• Will my school’s allocated OOHMA programme hours change?
• What about work done prior to employment?
• What do the changes to sick leave mean?
• Do I need to regrade coordinators as part of this process?
• Will a salary loading differential be preserved in the change?
  

About the collective agreement settlement

Community education staff work in a programme of community education courses run by a school board at a state or state-integrated school.

The information on this page should be read alongside Circular 2023/03.

Circular 2023/03: Settlement of the Community Education Collective Agreement

Download the full collective agreement:

Community Education Collective Agreement

Who is covered by this agreement? Who is not covered?

Adult and community education (ACE) staff who are PPTA members and covered by the expired ACE Staff in Schools’ Collective Agreement (2020-2022) will automatically be covered by this new agreement.

Coverage has also been extended to include staff in roles providing Ministry-funded out-of-hours music and arts (OOHMA) programmes for Years 1 to 8. Staff who are already PPTA members will automatically be placed on the collective agreement.

Music teachers who are not part of a Ministry-funded OOHMA programme are not covered by this settlement.

How will employees move onto this new agreement?

OOHMAs and ACE employees who are PPTA members will automatically move onto the new agreement once it is implemented by Education payroll. This will occur by 12 July 2023.

Staff who are not PPTA members will be required to sign the promulgated individual employment agreement (IEA) to receive the updated terms and conditions of employment.

Existing OOHMA roles, once on the agreement, will automatically translate to ACE roles as below.

When do the new pay rates apply?

ACE and OOHMA employees who are members of PPTA will receive the new pay rates from the 1 December 2022.

ACE and OOHMA employees who are not PPTA members must sign a new individual employment agreement (IEA) to access the new pay rates and conditions agreed in the recent settlement. The effective date for the pay rates will be 1 December 2022, provided the employee’s IEA is signed by 9 June 2023.

If the IEA is not signed by 9 June 2023, rates will be effective from the date the IEA is signed.

Schools will need to advise EPL that their employee has signed a new IEA by completing an EP22 form.

What is different in this collective agreement? 

Compared with the last ACE collective agreement, key changes in this agreement are:

• pay increases and lump sum payments
• the name of the collective is changed to Community Education Collective Agreement (CECA)
• a new clause 3.5 which outlines hours of work. The clause states that tutors must be paid for all hours agreed that are required for the role
• if an ACE class is cancelled and no payment to the tutor is to be made, the tutor requires at least 24 hours’ notice of the cancellation
• revised sick and bereavement clauses to make the entitlements clear, a change to what is considered continuous service for leave purposes, updating entitlements in accordance with legislation to include 10 days’ sick leave entitlement and Matariki as a public holiday.

Why did the name of the collective agreement change?

The parties agreed the new name to ensure the CA name reflects both ACE and OOHMA employees who are now all covered by the agreement.

The name of the CA is now the Community Education Collective Agreement (CECA).

How will schools afford the increases rates?

For ACE staff, the difference in pay rates will be funded through increases to the operations grant instalments from 1 July 2023.

OOHMA staff will continue to be paid via the central OOHMA funding stream as usual. Schools who have chosen to employ OOHMAs from their operations grant over and above the Ministry funded programme hours will receive funding to cover the increased pay rates for the term of the collective agreement as part of their regular operations grant instalments starting from 1 July 2023.

Will my school’s allocated OOHMA programme hours change?

No. The allocation of programme hours is separate to the employment agreement. The CECA sets out the terms and conditions of the employees of these programmes, but not the operations of the OOHMA programme itself. The process for and operations of the OOHMA programme are the same as before.

What if an ACE tutor had put together a programme of learning prior to being appointed as a tutor? Do we need to pay for work done prior to employment?

You do not need to pay tutors for work done prior to appointment as a tutor.

Some tutors may have a pre-prepared programme used in other contexts. However, any adaptations or planning after appointment as an ACE or OOHMA tutor would form part of the hours that they are entitled to be paid for.

If you are expecting work ahead of the first day of tutoring, the start date should reflect the date in which they start performing duties related to their role.

What do the changes to sick leave mean?

Fixed-term employees whose break in employment with the same employer is less than 3 months will have their service considered as continuous for sick leave purposes.

Other changes to the sick leave and bereavement clauses clarify existing provisions to ensure employers and employees understand the entitlements.

Do I need to regrade my OOHMA non-teaching coordinators as part of this process now that there are 3 grades?

OOHMA non-teaching coordinators, will automatically be translated by the payroll to a grade 1 coordinator position. A regrading process is not part of this settlement.

However, if an OOHMA non-teaching coordinator raises that they believe the work they are doing does not match the grade 1 coordinator definition, the employer should look at their job description and the definitions set out in part 2 of the CECA to consider if they are correctly graded.

NZSTA can provide specific advice in this area.

I was paying a salary loading to my OOHMA or ACE role. Will this differential be preserved in the change?

If employers are currently paying a salary loading above the new rates, the salary loading (SALLO) amount will be reduced by the employee's new higher rate and their effective hourly pay rate will not change.

If the SALLO was below the new rates, it will be replaced by the new minimum rates.

The employer can action an increase to the salary loading through EdPay should they wish to continue applying a differential above the minimum rates.

Last reviewed: 27 November 2023 Has this been useful? Give us your feedback