High school pay deal welcomed

By STUART DYE

Secondary school teachers will accept a $270 million pay deal which will give them salary increases of up to 13 per cent over three years.

But primary school teachers say their demands have not been met and warn that talks are at a crucial stage to avoid industrial action.

The NZ Educational Institute, which represents almost 30,000 primary, intermediate and area school teachers, is likely to use parity with secondary colleagues as a lever to fight its case.

Under a pay parity deal introduced by the National Government, teachers are all entitled to the same pay scale. But the NZEI also wants parity in other strands of their claim, such as non-contact hours.

Fifteen thousand secondary teachers, represented by the Post-Primary Teachers Association, are expected to accept a deal by the end of the month which will see pay increases of 8.74 to 13 per cent.

The package is described as a "substantial and attractive" offer by PPTA president Phil Smith.

"If this package is ratified we will have laid a solid foundation for making secondary teaching a more attractive and worthwhile profession," he said.

The deal, which covers teachers in about 365 schools, also includes:

* A middle management package addressing pay and workload issues.

* Guaranteed non-contact time for teachers with management roles from 2005.

* Increased non-contact time for all secondary teachers from 2006.

* Creation of classroom specialist positions in every school.

* 15 paid sabbatical leave positions from 2006 and 30 from 2007.

PPTA members meet over the next three weeks and are expected to agree to the deal.

But it is a different story for primary teachers.

While the Ministry of Education had tabled a pay offer, thought to be equivalent to the PPTA offer, the union is holding out for claims to address problems threatening the quality of education delivered to 480,000 children, said the president of NZEI Te Riu Roa, Colin Tarr.

Those claims include:

* Non-contact time for teachers to ease their workload.

* Ensuring deputy and assistant principals and senior teachers are rewarded for the extra workload and responsibilities they undertake.

* Ensuring new teachers are supported so they stay in teaching.

Negotiations continue until the end of this week, but Mr Tarr said workload pressures were not felt only in the secondary sector.

"Where the Government settles in one sector there's a compelling need to settle in another, with groups of teachers with very similar issues," he said.

Seven days of talks have been held since the NZEI tabled its claims on June 10.

"NZEI teachers and principals have shown a huge amount of goodwill over the last decade and got on with the job as these problems mounted," said Mr Tarr.

"But now the problems are threatening the quality of the education they provide and they are not prepared to see the future of the children they teach compromised."