Pay, leave and personal development
This directory provides information about a variety of topics, including pay, allowances, entitlements and more. More information on these subjects can be found in a staff member’s employment agreement. The conditions of employment agreements must be adhered to.
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- Pay
- Allowances
- Superannuation for principals and teachers
- Leave for principals and teachers
- Non-teaching time for teachers
- Professional development
- If you're shifting schools
- Surplus staffing
- Leaving your job
Pay
See basic information on pay for principals and teachers and find links to employment agreements.
Allowances
Most principals and teachers are entitled to be paid 1 or more allowances.
Staffing incentive, isolation and priority teacher allowances
Allowances are paid to principals and teachers employed in schools that the Ministry has identified as needing additional support for recruitment or retention. These are also sometimes called ‘hard to staff’ schools.
High priority principals’ allowance
Priority teacher supply allowance
Other allowances
Some of the other allowances you may be eligible for are:
Advanced classroom expertise teacher allowance
Pacific bilingual immersion teaching allowance
Principal recruitment allowance
Resource teacher: Learning and behaviour allowances
Specialist teacher allowance and specialist classroom teacher allowances
Special school principals’ allowance
Superannuation for principals and teachers
Your employer’s contribution to your superannuation is currently 3% of your gross earnings. You can choose to contribute an additional 3%, 4% or 8% of your pay.
You may already belong to a superannuation scheme that is closed to new members, such as the:
- Teachers' Retirement Savings Scheme and the State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme, each with an employer contribution of up to 3% of your gross salary.
- Government Superannuation Fund, which has an employer contribution of 6.5% or 7% of your gross salary.
- National Provident Fund, which has an employer contribution of up to 3% of your gross salary.
If you belong to one of the old schemes and KiwiSaver, employer contributions can only be paid to KiwiSaver if the amount paid into the other scheme is less than the KiwiSaver contribution of 3%.
That is, if your employer’s contribution to your other fund is 4%, you will not get any payment into KiwiSaver as well. However, if the employer contribution to your other fund is only 2%, you will also get 1% paid into your KiwiSaver scheme.
See more information about Kiwisaver:
KiwiSaver – Inland Revenue(external link)
For information about other superannuation schemes visit:
State Sector Retirement Savings Scheme – Public Services Commission(external link)
If you have any questions, contact your provider directly.
Leave for principals and teachers
Principals and teachers are entitled to different types of leave. Your leave provisions, including how much time you can take, are set out in your employment agreement.
Leave for principals and teachers
Non-teaching time for teachers
All teachers are entitled to time away from the classroom during their working week. Your employment agreement sets out how much time you’re entitled to.
Non-teaching time for teachers
Professional development
ESOL professional development
We provide resources and professional development support to help teachers and teacher aides develop their skills in working with English language learners.
Scholarships awards and funding for people working in schools
Find out about the scholarships, awards, funding and sabbaticals are available to principals and teachers.
Scholarships, awards and funding for people working in schools
Study and sabbatical leave
You may qualify for study leave or sabbatical leave if you’re completing a qualification, gaining another qualification so you can teach a different subject, or taking time off to research a topic of interest.
Relocations costs if you are shifting schools
If you are teaching staff and you are moving to work at another school, you may be eligible to receive a payment from the Ministry to assist with the costs of relocation.
Relocation costs if you’re shifting schools
Surplus staffing
Surplus staffing situations in your school must be managed carefully and considerately and meet all legal requirements.
Leaving your job
Some of the reasons your employment may end include illness, resignation, retirement, dismissal or redundancy. Your employment agreement sets out your entitlements and responsibilities for each situation.
Resignation, dismissal and retirement
Medical retirement for principals and teachers
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