Principals disengage from MOE

Primary and intermediate school principals have voted to stop engaging with the Ministry of Education after rejecting the latest Government pay offer.

From Monday, New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa members will stop communication with the ministry and cease participation in any ministry-led work groups, taskforces or meetings until August 16.

It comes just days after hundreds of principals delivered letters and petitions to ministry offices calling for an improved pay offer.

Principal of Nelson’s Auckland Point primary school, Sonya Hockley, said it was unfair that primary principals had not been offered pay parity with their secondary counterparts as teachers had, nor relativity with the primary teachers’ pay scale.

‘‘It doesn’t bode well for the future,’’ Hockley said.

‘‘We want quality principals, ensuring that children receive quality education, that they have the best teachers, the best learning opportunities. And you need good people at the helm to be able to make that happen.

‘‘We will not put our communities at risk or do anything that will hurt or stop our children from learning.

‘‘[But] we haven’t been listened to . . . and we have to now continue to fight on.’’

NZEI president Lynda Stuart said the result reflected principals’ anger as well as concerns that workload and pay parity issues had not been addressed.

She said there was a ‘‘huge range’’ of ministry work that ‘‘relies on the goodwill of principals’’.

‘‘This action is about saying that goodwill has run out, and that principals will be focusing their attention on their schools and children until the Government listens.’’

NZEI would be meeting with the secretary of education on Wednesday afternoon to try to find a way towards resolving the dispute, she said.

The ministry’s Ellen MacGregor-Reid said the action was ‘‘disappointing’’ as the $64 million offer was a ‘‘significant amount of money’’.

‘‘The rejected offer also included additional staffing to support principals of our smallest schools and a clear commitment from the ministry, NZEI and the PPTA, through an accord, to working on the issues of workload, well-being and pay parity between groups of principals.’’

The rejected offer would have given a 3 per cent rise for three years to principals at schools with a roll of more than 100.

Principals at schools of up to 100 students were offered three pay increases of about 4.5 per cent each year.