New conflict in teacher pay row
Ministry refuses to pay $220 for certificates
Some teachers are upset that the Ministry of Education won’t pay for their professional registration to be renewed while there are industrial negotiations under way and no settlement.
Under the previous collective agreement for secondary teachers which expired last month, the ministry agreed to pay for teachers renewing their practising certificates.
Teachers are required to renew their practising certificates every three years, at a cost of $220.
Auckland Grammar School headmaster Tim O’Connor was concerned enough that he wrote to Education Secretary Iona Holsted telling her it could send an antagonistic message to teachers in the midst of industrial action if the ministry declined to pay for renewals.
“The teachers affected by this are those who are unlucky enough to have their registration fall in the period of contract negotiations.
“Effectively they are treated differently to any other teacher over the period of the last contract,” O’Connor wrote to Holsted.
Holsted responded to him that the arrangement, which was extended to primary and area schools, was for the term of the agreement only.
“It is [critical] the terms of settlement are applied consistently. Fees which fall due outside the term of the agreement are the responsibility of the teacher, by agreement with the unions,” Holsted wrote.
“The Secondary Teachers’ collective agreement is currently being renegotiated with the PPTA and any new arrangement with respect to practising certificate fees needs to be worked through in that context. As this issue is [under negotiation], I don’t consider it appropriate to comment further at this point,” she wrote.
O’Connor told the Herald it was an anomaly.
“It could be quite easily fixed and show quite considerable goodwill in the middle of collective contract round for both NZEI and PPTA.”
O’Connor said his school, with a staff of 155, had processed five registrations in one day alone this week that had been declined by the ministry.
His school had paid the fees in the meantime but other schools may not be able to.
PPTA junior vice-president Melanie Webber said she had received a number of emails from upset teachers.
“Other professions like doctors have paid for them, a lot of lawyers have them paid. Why are we having to pay this to have our hideously underpaid, overworked jobs?”