Just 19 percent of schools are well prepared for National Standards, according to an ERO report released today.

  Media Release (0.1mb pdf)

NZEI says expert research on National Standards backs up the deep concern being expressed by principals and teachers and proves that they are doing thousands of children a disservice.

  Media Release (0.1mb pdf)
  New Zealand Council for Educational Research: Setting the bar (0.1mb pdf)

NZEI News - 9 June 2009/09e

This week in NZEI News - Support Staff Day, Ministry botches ECE pay, Swine flu, National Standards networking, 21st century thinking and more...
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Celebrations / Anger - Support Staff Day 10 June
Dozens of events have been organised to honour the contribution support staff make this Wednesday, 10 June. Postcards will be available at some support staff events for you to fill in and send to your MP. All members are urged to show their support by joining the Fair Deal campaign network and attending events on support staff day.

Meanwhile, NZEI remains committed to achieving a positive outcome from negotiations for support staff. The government is, in effect, trying to impose a state sector wide wage freeze, albeit with case by case exceptions such as kindergartens. NZEI believes that the government has an obligation to address support staff low pay - locking low paid workers into a wage freeze will do nothing for this country’s economy.



Ministry botches ECE pay
A significant mistake that resulted in some ECE services getting an 8% increase in funding for teacher salaries instead of 4% on 1 July last year was admitted by the Ministry of Education on May 28th.  The Ministry discovered the mistake in April, yet failed to declare it during negotiations for the kindergarten agreement last month – an act of bad faith, NZEI believes. The result is that the Ministry will not provide further funding to Kindergarten Associations to support the 4% increase to kindergarten teachers on 1 July this year, even though the terms of the kindergarten agreement include this pay increase. 



Swine Flu and your sick leave
NZEI has met with Education Ministry officials to clarify how swine flu may impact on entitlements. At present, the official situation is:

* Sick staff (or sick family / whanau) use sick leave.
* There is currently no directive for any adult or child not displaying symptoms to stay away from school.
* If staff not displaying symptoms are advised by their doctor, health official, BoT, or principal to isolate themselves and choose to follow that advice, this is a charge against their sick leave.
* If an employer directs staff not displaying symptoms to stay at home, remuneration continues and becomes a charge against the employers' funds, ie - not a charge against an employee's sick leave entitlement. 
* If the swine flu situation becomes more serious, the above advice may change.



Albert Einstein on national standards
Einstein once said, “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” Or as one principal quipped recently, “Measuring a piglet again and again won't change its weight”.  Join the debate about what national standards means for your school at NZEI's new social networking site for educators, parents, academics and others. And don't forget to attend your local Ministry consultation on the standards.



Primary Teacher WSR seminars
A nationwide round of seminars for NZEI's primary teacher worksite reps has just been completed. The 'Education Agenda' issue sheets were discussed and collated. Feedback from these seminars will be taken to locally based meetings for primary teacher members in August.



Thinking ahead?
The NZ Council for Educational Research has set up a new website to explore the shift to 21st Century thinking and learning. The Shifting to 21st Century Thinking site aims to connect theory with educational practice from the perspectives of people actually involved in the educational profession around the world. The intention is to help educators build a bridge between 20th century theories and practices, and 21st Century theories and practices.



Biennial NZCTU Women's Conference
The theme of this year's Biennial NZCTU Women's Conference Union is Women: Organising Our World - Local to Global. It will be held from on 10 and 11 July 2009 at the Mercure Hotel, 355 Willis St, Wellington.



NZEI Seminars for beginning teachers
NZEI is holding seminars for provisionally registered teachers focussing on issues that are relevant to people early in their teaching career. The seminars are happening across the country between 11 and 30 June.
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NZEI News - 26 May 2009/08e
This week: pay parity success for kindergarten teachers, support staff negotiations, having your say on National Standards, NZEI organisational review focus groups, PRT support seminars, a pay equity protest and more...
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Pay parity victory for Kindergarten teachers
Kindergarten teachers have won continued pay parity with primary teachers through the successful negotiation of their collective employment agreement. NZEI negotiating team leader and Tauranga Kindergarten Association senior teacher Marion Dekker says the team was very pleased to see the ongoing commitment to pay parity and the professional status of ECE teachers. "It was the number one issue for us going into these negotiations," she said. The settlement will go out to members for ratification shortly.



Support staff negotiation
Bargaining success for kindergarten teachers has not been mirrored in support staff negotiations. NZEI has been extremely disappointed with the government's offer to support staff and very little progress has been made. Two key goals, a reasonable pay increase and a plan for the future to help schools employ support staff, need to be addressed.

Support Staff Day on June 10 is an opportunity to show how valued support staff really are. For example, MOTAT in Auckland has invited support staff to a free wine and chocolate celebration at 3pm. RSVP to bookings@motat.org.nz. Other events can be viewed on www.fairdeal.org.nz.



National Standards – six weeks to have your say!
The Ministry of Education's consultation meetings have now started with only a dozen teacher and parent meetings planned nationally. It is a very tight timeframe and NZEI urges all teachers and parents to get out and have their say. You can email the Ministry and request a representative to consult in your area. NZEI encourages you to do this. If you ask for Ministry representation and don’t get one, please let NZEI know.



Five proposals to change our union
Focus groups are to discuss the five draft proposals for change to NZEI’s structure in the next step of NZEI’s organisational review. The National Executive will refine the proposals based on the focus group feedback and the final proposal will go out to the full membership for debate in the run up to Annual Meeting in September. Please contact your district council if you wish to attend these focus groups:

    * 4.30 to 6.30pm May 26th, Hamilton Field Office
    * 4.30 to 6.30pm May 28th, Napier / Hastings Field Office
    * 4.30 to 6.30pm June 2nd, Upstart House, Dunedin
    * 4.30 to 6.30pm June 3rd, NZEI Southern Regional Office, Christchurch
    * 4 to 6pm June 5th, NZEI Central Regional Office, Wellington



Support for beginning teachers
NZEI seminars focussing on issues that are relevant to people early in their teaching career are being held across the country between 11 and 30 June. These seminars focus on the rights and responsibilities of early career teachers including collective agreement entitlements, managing responsibilities and difficult situations, and NZEI campaign activity. These seminars are supported by employment related education leave (EREL).



Rural and Teaching Principals conference
Rural and teaching principals meet in Rotorua this week for their annual conference. This year, there will be workshops on issues of concern for principals and debate on national standards, with speakers including Education Minister Anne Tolley and NZEI President Frances Nelson.



ECE Symposium
NZEI is hosting a symposium to bring together the views of employers and teachers from the public and private sector to address the teacher shortage issue in early childhood education. NZEI National Executive member and kindergarten teacher Hayley Whitaker says it will be an historic opportunity to engage with everyone in the sector on a problem that affects them all. Information on the outcomes of the symposium will be available later in June.



Ready to implement the Curriculum?
ERO has released the first of two aggregated reports that will give the Ministry of Education information on the progress that schools are making towards the full implementation of the curriculum.

Schools reviewed in terms 3-4 last year are progressing well in their preparation. Most schools are where they could realistically be expected to be at this stage and have begun the process of reviewing their curriculum. The report identifies four factors common to the good progress made by schools whose preparations are well advanced. What are the strengths of your school's progress towards implementation of the NVC? What are the concerns? Send your thoughts to sandra.aikin@nzei.org.nz



The connected curriculum
NZEI Te Riu Roa has received Ministry of Education funding and support to produce a comprehensive DVD resource to clarify the intent, spirit and content of the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) and to assist principals with its implementation. The resource will be available in Term 3.
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NZEI News 2009/07e
This week in NZEI News - bargaining updates, new social networking sites for support staff and the rainbow network, worksite rep seminars, the organisational review, and news on league tables in Australia and the UK.
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Bargaining update
After months of delays bargaining is finally underway for support staff, kindergarten and Kaiarahi and therapists. This bargaining is taking place in difficult economic times but this should not mean that core issues around low pay and pay parity are not addressed. Members will be updated as bargaining progresses.



Fairdeal.org.nz
Last week, we launched a social networking website for support staff as they begin their collective agreement negotiations. Members are using the site to share information, create networks and support the NZEI negotiation team. If you haven’t seen it, take a look - join the community.



Worksite Rep seminars
Primary worksite rep seminars are now examining feedback from members’ worksite discussions based on the Education Agenda sheets - including teacher supply, workload, pay mechanisms and the proposed national standards. It is vital that all schools have a representative at these seminars. More information and seminar dates for other sectors are available on the NZEI website.



Influence the future of your union
There is a movement for change in our union and an organisational review is underway. It‘s about people participating and becoming more involved at all levels. It’s also about making sure we plan our activities and are accountable for them. NZEI's National Executive is proposing five changes to how the union works - we want your views, so have your say now on-line.



League tables get the thumbs down
Publication of league tables for Tasmanian schools has sparked fierce debate in Australia. Principals have condemned the action and called for legislation to stop it. Head teachers in the UK voted by 94% to boycott standardised tests leading to school league tables next year. Their vote reflected a similar decision by the National Union of Teachers earlier this year. Mick Brookes, General Secretary of National Association of Head Teachers said the historic vote meant schools would “no longer be exposed to the humiliation of league table misrepresentation” and those wanting accountability would have to consider “the work that was actually going on in schools, rather than a set of spurious results”.



Rainbow Networking
The NZEI Rainbow Network is forming a new social networking site for members wanting to communicate with other members on issues of common interest. Site membership is by invitation only. If you are interested in being joining, email rainbow@nzei.org.nz.



Pay Equity petition – keep 'em coming! (0.1mb pdf)
Thanks to all members who have already sent in petitions. To those of you who haven't please download one and get as many signatures as you can.  We want to have as many as we can by 1 June so that it can be presented to petition sponsor Sue Moroney MP around Support Staff Day.

Worksite Reps: Please download and circulate the petition at your worksite and to your friends, family and networks.



Fiji Govt sacks president of Fiji Teachers Union
The Fijian government has sacked the FTA’s President, Tevita Koroi from his position as principal of Nasinu Secondary School. Tevita Koroi is also the President of the Council of Pacific Education (COPE), the regional organisation of education unions from the South Pacific that includes NZEI. You can support Tevita Koroi by adding your name to an online letter to the Fiji government, calling for his reinstatement.
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The National/ACT Government has invented a “crisis” around ACC so they can open it up to private insurance companies, just as they did in 1999. If this happened, you would probably have to pay higher insurance premiums. It would also likely be harder and take longer for you to get compensation if you had an accident. Don’t be fooled by National/ACT’s public relations spin about ACC. Experts have been queuing up to challenge their arguments.

  ACC Flier (0.2mb)

NZEI members visited thirty Government MPs as part of nation-wide activities on Friday 17 April, demanding bargaining for support staff and kindergarten members begin urgently. Thank you to all who got involved - bargaining dates have now been agreed as a result! You can see images and video of the day’s events on the NZEI website.

In this edition:

• SS / ECE Bargaining dates agreed
• NZEI Scholarships - time is running out
• 2009 Worksite Rep Seminars
• National Standards hit the radio waves
• YMN Hui pics
• Pay Equity Petition - keep 'em coming
• Union Women – Organising Our World Conference
• Rainbow Network

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Bargaining dates agreed
The government has now given the Ministry of Education a mandate for bargaining. Negotiations for kindergarten teachers and school support staff will begin on the week of 4 May. Support staff members want to see their concerns about low pay and job security given priority, while kindergarten teachers want their professional status with other teachers maintained.

The bargaining dates are:

• Support Staff Collective Agreement - 4, 5, 11 and 12 May
• Kindergarten Collective Agreement - 7, 8, 18, 19 and 20 May
• Kaiarahi I te Reo, Therapists’ ATSSD and Special Education Assistants’ Collective Agreement - 14 and 15 May.

NZEI Scholarships - time is running out
NZEI provides two $5000 scholarships every year for support staff members and two for early childhood members. It's a great opportunity to develop your career. You need to get your expression of interest in to NZEI by Friday 8 May.


2009 Worksite Rep Seminars
This year's worksite rep seminars are focusing on specific groups of members. First up are primary teachers, with seminars running from 11 to 29 May. It's important every school is represented, either by a WSR who is a primary teacher, or by a teacher contact - your views about the Education Agenda discussion sheets need to be heard. If you're coming, send your response form (invitation letter) back today.


National Standards hit the radio waves (radionz.co.nz)
NZEI President Frances Nelson represented the union’s views on an extended documentary on last Sunday’s Insight programme. NZEI principal member Louise Green, NZ Principals Federation Ernie Buutveld and Education Minister Anne Tolley also gave input. (www.radionz.co.nz)


YMN Hui
The YMN Hui was a big success - images from the event are now available on the website.


Pay Equity Petition - keep 'em coming (0.1mb pdf)
Thanks to all members who have already sent in petitions. To those of you who haven't, please download one and get as many signatures as you can. We want to have as close to 50,000 signatures as we can by 1 June so that it can be presented to petition sponsor Sue Moroney MP on Support Staff Day (June 13th).

Worksite reps: Download and circulate the petition at your worksite and to your friends, family and networks


Union Women – Organising Our World Conference
Places are available on NZEI's delegation to the BIENNIAL NZCTU WOMEN’S CONFERENCE - Union Women: Organising Our World - Local to Global Friday 10th and Saturday 11th July 2009 Mercure Hotel, 355 Willis St, Wellington. Please email womensnetwork@nzei.org.nz for information on how NZEI women can participate in this important conference.


Rainbow Network
The NZEI Rainbow Network is for members who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, Takatapui, Fa’afafine, transgender, or intersex, and those wishing to support this group or having an interest in sexuality, anti-homophobia, and gender issues that impact on workers and learners in education. If you are interested in joining or supporting the network email rainbow@nzei.org.nz
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NZEI News - 7 April 2009/05e

This week in NZEI News... Support Staff meet the PM, Scholarships and Study Awards open for applications, John Hattie's book critique and more. Have an enjoyable Easter break, the next NZEI News will be on 28 April...
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Support staff meet PM
Kindergarten head teacher Dot Lovell-Smith and support staff members Linda Jordan and Julie-Anne Gauld express their frustration to the Prime Minister John Key over the ongoing bargaining delays to their collective agreements. A group of about 35 NZEI members staged a protest outside the Prime Minister's Huapai electorate office, during the electorate's AGM.

Support Staff / ECE Scholarships - Apply Now!
Applications are now invited for the four annual NZEI sponsored Support Staff and ECE Scholarships. Two scholarships are for Support Staff members and two scholarships are available for Early Childhood Education members. Full information is now available on the NZEI website, including the timeline, examples of projects and the process for applying.
Support Staff / ECE Members: Begin planning your proposal now and make the most of this great professional development opportunity. The closing date for applications is 5pm Friday 8 May 2009.

MoE Funded Study Awards, Sabbaticals, Study Support Grants and Fellowships
Ministry of Education funded Study Awards, Sabbaticals, Study Support Grants, and a range of Fellowships are now open for application, with closing dates varying from July through to September 2009. These include opportunities for Miro Māori (ECE), Special Education Teachers, Primary Teachers, Principals and Area Teachers.

John Hattie's book critique (0.1mb pdf)
Measuring student achievement has been the subject of heightened media and academic debate since the publication of John Hattie's book 'Visible Learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement'. You can now read a critique of the book by a group of academics, including leading educationalist Professor Ivan Snook.

Pay Equity Petition - Keep 'em coming! (0.1mb pdf)
Thanks to all members who have already sent in petitions. To those of you who haven't, please download one and get as many signatures as you can.  We want to have as close to 50,000 signatures as we can by 1 June so that it can be presented to petition sponsor Labour MP Sue Moroney on Support Staff Day (June 13th).
Worksite Reps: Download and circulate the petition at your worksite and to your friends, family and networks

GSE Support Workers - Pay Equity claims lodged
NZEI has lodged claims for GSE Support Workers based on the findings of the government's pay and employment equity investigation. The investigation identified these workers as being significantly underpaid and the claims will test the government's willingness to address these issues.

Primary Teachers - Education Agenda
Primary teachers should have received their four sets of Education Agenda discussion sheets and worksite representatives will be arranging for times for these to be discussed by teaching staff. These sheets are designed to provide all NZEI primary teacher members a chance to have their say on some key issues. Worksite representatives are then asked to feed those views back to NZEI at Education Agenda seminars in May.

Teachers Matter
On April 3rd around 80 primary teachers attended seminars in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch to look at ways that they can provide leadership and support for the NZEI Teachers Matter campaign. The key goals of this campaign are to provide greater opportunity for primary teachers to be involved in the formation of the union's claims for next year's collective agreement negotiations and to increase the level of primary teacher membership of NZEI.
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NZEI Te Riu Roa, various sector groups and the Ministry of Education have been in discussion over the impact of an amendment to the Employment Relations Act that introduced a statutory entitlement to rest breaks. These documents outlinine some broad guidance on the issue for the ECE and Compulsory Education sectors.

  Meal and rest break guidelines for the ECE sector (0.1mb pdf)

  Meal and rest break guidelines for the Compulsory education sector (0.1mb pdf)

NZEI News - 25 March 2009/04e

This NZEI News looks at pay equity, coverage from last week's Taumata Whanonga, the NZEI Organisational Review and much more...enjoy
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Bargaining - legal action required?
NZEI has told the Ministry of Education it is prepared to take legal action if bargaining for support staff, kaiarahi i te reo and kindergarten teachers does not get underway soon. In a letter to the Ministry of Education, NZEI said its members were concerned that no dates had yet been set by the Ministry, even though the agreements expired more than a fortnight ago and NZEI initiated bargaining more than two months ago. The Ministry has reiterated that its hands are tied because it has received no mandate from the Government to proceed with bargaining. NZEI believes this is not good enough. The ongoing delays are a breach of good faith and we will continue to maintain pressure on the Minister and Ministry at national level. We are encouraging members to lobby local MPs to get the government to the table.


Petition for pay equity (0.1mb pdf)
NZEI is encouraging members to support a parliamentary petition calling on the National Government to reverse its decision to scrap pay equity investigations for school support staff and to implement the findings of the pay review for GSE support workers. Launching the petition at Parliament, Labour's Women's Affairs spokesperson Sue Moroney said: "There is no excuse in 2009 for a Government to turn a blind eye to the issues that face female dominated professions." NZEI objects to the government's actions because this is a direct attack on equity for women and low paid workers.

Worksite reps: Circulate the petition at your worksite and to your friends, family and networks and ensure that completed petitions are returned to: Stephanie Mills, NZEI Te Riu Roa, PO Box 466, Wellington or fax to (04) 385 1772 by 1 June 2009.


Taumata Whanonga video coverage
Focussing on behaviour issues in schools and early childhood centres, the Taumata Whanonga was held at Te Papa on 16 and 17 March 2009. Keynote speakers at the Taumata presented research and evidence to inform priorities for teaching practice, school wide strategy and policy. These presentations can now be viewed on NZEI's website.


Teachers Matter worksite rep seminars
Education Agenda discussion sheets have been mailed to primary worksites this week as part of our Teachers Matter campaign. It is vital that all schools have a representative at the primary teacher seminars, as part of the work will include collating your worksite's responses to the Education Agenda discussion sheets. Find out when the seminar nearest you is happening.


NZEI Organisational Review
All District Councils and most branches will be running a workshop during Term 1 2009 to discuss the proposals about new ways of working, and the structures that could support these. Watch the video from NZEI President Frances Nelson, then join in and have your say about NZEI's direction and influence on education in New Zealand.


Review underlines value of support staff (0.1mb pdf)
NZEI's Stronger Together for Fair Pay campaign has been boosted by the belated release of the 2007 "Review of Schools' Operational Funding: Non-Teaching Staff Workforce Final Report". The report concludes school support staff have taken up far more complex and skilled tasks over time and provides further ammunition for support staff's claims for fair pay and job security.


International experts critique national standards
NZEI's President Frances Nelson and other NZEI representatives attended an International Assessment Symposium in Queenstown last week where the release of the Ministry's National Assessment Strategy was a hot topic of discussion. The New Zealand Assessment Academy "a group of leading New Zealand researchers with technical expertise in assessment" also warned the Government last week that national standards needed to be implemented with care to avoid negative impacts on students' learning and educational experiences. A draft of the new National Standards is expected to be completed in May.


Health and safety rep training now on offer
22,000 H&S reps have been trained by the Council of Trade Unions since 2003. The CTU provides FREE two-day training courses to elected Health and Safety Representatives.

Worksite reps: Please alert the H&S rep in your workplace to this opportunity.


Principal to Principal
If you're a principal and are not currently receiving NZEI's regular Principal to Principal e-newsletter, please subscribe now on the home page of www.principalskit.org.nz


Holidays... not for sale!
NZEI strongly opposes the Government's move to enable people to "sell" their 4th week's holiday. The union movement campaigned long and hard for 4 weeks holiday to ensure people can spend time with their families and have better work/life balance, and to bring us into line with other OECD countries. We urge anyone getting pressure from their employer to sell their holiday to strongly resist it. Contact NZEI's 0800 NZEI HELP desk if you need any assistance.
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