Cultural leadership allowance allocation

145 cultural leadership allowances were agreed as part of the Area School Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2023-2025 settlement and the allocation basis of 1 cultural leadership allowance per area school has been determined.  

Allocation process for area schools and kura 

1. All area schools received an email from the Ministry of Education in on 22 February 2024 advising them of the process to allocate this allowance.
2. School leaders, as informed by the cultural leadership allowance matrix to guide their decision making, will assess the eligibility for the allowance of existing teachers who may already be undertaking this mahi.
3. If there is a suitable teacher at the school who has demonstrated they meet the eligibility criteria, school leaders will allocate one allowance via the EdPay link in the email. By completing this payroll instruction, school leaders are attesting the eligibility of this teacher for the allowance based on the eligibility requirements and matrix.
4. Area schools and kura will have until the end of Term 1 2024 (Friday 12 April) to complete this process.
5. After this time, area schools who have not distributed their cultural leadership allowances will be contacted by the Ministry and asked if they would like to relinquish their allowance for a fixed-term period where they do not currently have a teacher undertaking this mahi.
   Any available allowances will be redistributed to other area schools for a fixed-term period. More details on the process to redistribute any unallocated allowances to area schools will be confirmed following the end of Term 1 2024 deadline. 

1,200 cultural leadership allowances were agreed as part of the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2023–2025 settlement but the agreement did not specify how the allowances would be distributed. The parties agreed to work through allocation modelling options before the beginning of the 2024 school year to determine a suitable allocation method to distribute the 1,200 available allowances to primary schools/teachers. 

We acknowledge that as there is a limitation on the number of cultural leadership allowances available to primary teachers, there are not enough available to simply make the allocation method 1 allowance per primary school. 

Allocation criteria for primary schools and kura 

Cultural leadership allowances will initially be distributed on the basis of 1 per primary school to schools and kura which have:

• 50 or more students, and
• a population of at least 17% Māori or 17% Pacific students based on the most recent Ministry roll return. 

There are 1,136 schools and kura which fit these criteria, meaning there will be at least 64 allowances initially unallocated.

We expect that of these 1,136 schools, there may not be staff who fit the criteria to receive the allowance. In this case, any surplus allowances including the 64 unallocated allowances will be allocated during the second phase of the process. 

It is the intention of the Ministry and the unions to allocate these 64 (or more) allowances to some of the schools and kura based on need which do not have 50 or more students, or to schools which have more than 1 staff member eligible to receive the allowance. 

Allocation process for primary schools and kura

Phase 1

1. Primary schools and kura who fit the criteria below received an email from the Ministry of Education on 22 February 2024 informing them that there is one cultural leadership allowance available to their primary school or kura based on the distribution model agreed between the parties. Cultural leadership allowances will initially be distributed on the basis of 1 per primary school to schools and kura which have:
   • 50 or more students; and
   • a population of at least 17% Māori or Pacific students based on the most recent Ministry roll return.
2. School leaders, as informed by the cultural leadership allowance matrix to guide their decision making, will assess the eligibility for the allowance of existing teachers who may already be undertaking this mahi. If there is not a suitable teacher already doing this work the allowance will be made available for distribution to another primary school in phase 2.
3. If there is a suitable teacher at the school who has demonstrated they meet the eligibility criteria, school leaders will allocate one allowance via the EdPay link in the email. By completing this payroll instruction, school leaders are attesting the eligibility of this teacher for the allowance based on the eligibility requirements and matrix.
4. Schools will have until the end of Term 1 2024 (Friday 12 April) to complete the phase 1 process.
5. Any unallocated allowances will be distributed in the second phase of allocations.

Phase 2

1. From the beginning of Term 2 2024, Te Mahau regional Directors of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa will be asked to nominate primary schools and kura for these schools to be allocated the remaining allowances. Details of the nomination process will be confirmed via email when the phase 2 allocations open.
2. Te Mahau regional Directors of Education and NZEI Te Riu Roa will have until end of Term 2 2024 (Friday 5 July) to make these nominations.
3. NZEI Te Riu Roa and the Ministry will discuss the phase 2 nominations and allocate the remaining allowances to schools and kura considering the following priorities:
   1. schools with:
      • fewer than 50 students; and
      • a population of at least 17% Māori or Pacific students; and
      • a teacher solely responsible for cultural leadership and expertise as per the allowance matrix
   2. schools who do not meet the phase 1 allocation criteria but have a high overall number and proportion of Māori and Pacific students (that is, 25% or more)
   3. schools who meet the phase 1 allocation criteria, and who have more than one staff member responsible for cultural leadership and expertise at their school
   4. special circumstances that impact the school’s ability to provide cultural leadership and expertise.
4. Phase 2 allocations will be considered and agreed by the end of Term 3, 2024 (Friday 27 September). 

As part of this initial allocation process, all cultural leadership allowances will be paid effective from 28 January 2024, or from the teacher’s date of appointment, whichever is the latter, regardless of whether they were allocated in the first or second phase. Allocations made after this initial allocation process is completed will be effective from the date the allowance is allocated.

How should employers determine a teacher's work and eligibility for the allowance?

You should have a conversation with the teacher to understand their cultural expertise and previous experiences, which may include providing you with additional supporting evidence where appropriate.

Where possible, you should contact the previous principal and/or other references from the applying teacher (with agreement) to determine eligibility, including utilising community networks and relationships with local whānau, hapū and iwi leaders.   

What should employers do where 2 or more teachers from the same school demonstrate cultural expertise?

Consider allocating the allowance on a shared basis in the first instance. 

For primary schools who are eligible under phase 1 and have allocated this allowance on a shared basis, you can contact your Te Mahau lead advisor to put forward a case to be nominated in the second phase of the allocation process so that each teacher could be considered for a separate allowance.

What happens if a teacher at a school or kura resigns or relinquishes the allowance?

Where a teacher with the cultural leadership allowance resigns or relinquishes the allowance, the school would be able to reallocate the allowance to another eligible teacher.    

What happens if our school has a change in circumstances after being allocated an allowance under phase 1?

Schools will not be notified if their circumstances change and they fall outside of the initial phase 1 allocation requirements. They will continue to be able to pay the cultural leadership allowance to the staff member doing that work.

If the allowance holder resigns or relinquishes the allowance, and the school does not have another eligible teacher doing this work, the allowance will be returned to the pool of available allowances to redistribute.

Information about the redistribution of the cultural leadership allowance to other primary schools and kura after 2024

Once the initial allocation phase is completed in 2024, any allowances that become available after that time will be redistributed to primary schools and kura considering the following priorities:

• schools with:
  • less than 50 students
  • a population of at least 17% Māori or 17% Pacific students
  • a teacher solely responsible for cultural leadership and expertise as per the allowance matrix
• schools who do not meet the phase 1 allocation criteria but have a high overall number and proportion of Māori and Pacific students (that is 25% or more Māori and/or Pacific student population)
• schools who meet the phase 1 allocation criteria, and who have more than 1 staff member responsible for cultural leadership and expertise at their school
• special circumstances that impact the school’s ability to provide cultural leadership and expertise.

Timeframes

Primary schools and kura who are allocated an allowance under the initial phase 1 eligibility will have until the end of Term 1 2024 to determine a suitable, eligible candidate for their 1 allowance per school. After this time, the remaining allowances will be allocated to primary schools as determined by the phase 2 allocation priorities. 

Area schools and kura will also have until the end of Term 1 2024 to allocate their allowance of 1 per school to an eligible teacher. Details on the process to redistribute any unallocated allowances to area schools will be confirmed following the end of the Term 1 2024 deadline.