“The vision for 2032 is that “Aotearoa New Zealand will have a strong, culturally
competent, education workforce that drives
a world leading, learner- focused education system”, including one that
plays a significant role in fostering Māori and Pacific identity,
language and culture with the confidence and capability to
support te reo and te ao learning for all”.
Draft Education Workforce Strategy 2021
Module Objectives:
Understand employment law:
- Legislation
- NAG 3
- Employment agreements
Understand staffing best practice:
- Banked staffing
- Staffing allocations
- Payroll
- Develop effective recruitment strategies
Section 1: Staffing Provision
Staffing provision in our schools is complex and bound by both legislation and collective agreements. A summary of the legal requirements, Ministry of Education regulations and agreements is given below:
Legislation
Education and Training Act 2020 – key sections: 585-621
Children’s Act 2014 – sets out the requirements for safety checking children’s workers
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 – sets out the requirements for keeping people at work safe from harm
State Sector Act 1988, repealed and replaced by Public Service Act 2020 – has relevance
Employment Relations Act 2000 – has relevance
NAG 3
NAG 3 relates to board and management legal responsibilities for personnel and employment matters, industrial policies, and being a good employer.
Employment agreements
Employment agreements confirm the conditions of staff employment. Each staff member must have an employment agreement.
You can find the collective agreements and templates for individual employment agreements on the Ministry of Education website:
Against this background schools are tasked to appoint, resource, and support a professional workforce that can deliver the best quality educational outcomes to the learners in their care so that all New Zealand children have opportunities to reach their potential — for themselves and society as a whole. This workforce is inclusive of teachers being supported and equipped to teach, and Principals to lead and manage their schools, so that children learn in the ways that work best for them.
Section 2: The Current Staffing Provision for New Zealand Schools
Background reading:
Annual Calculation of Staffing Allowances by the Ministry of Education
At its core, staffing of schools is roll dependent, and for that reason, and because the allocation of staffing is also formula driven, with a variety of allowances, may fluctuate both year to year and during the year. The resource “Entitlement Staffing”, attached to this assignment, is sourced from the Ministry of Education website and outlines how provisional rolls are determined and confirmed for schools, including the impact of various allowances for leadership, management and specialist teacher rolls:
Banked Staffing
Banking staffing is one tool, in a system that is otherwise inflexible that allows schools use to manage their annual staffing entitlement, and the possibility of ‘unders and overs’ of spending, a little like ‘planning your annual budget’. Banking staffing allows you to either:
- a) store up ‘underuse’ (credit) for times when you know you’ll need extra staffing, or
- b) go into ‘overuse’ (overdraft) when you need extra staffing before you have enough credit stored.
The resources ‘Banked Staffing’ and ‘Your-Easy-Guide-to-Banked-Staffing”, also sourced from the MoE website, provide an outline of how this dimension of funding works.
Section 3: Payroll
The regular arrival of correct pay means staff can meet their financial commitments. Even a few dollars missed off a payment or, even worse, having to wait for pay can result in financial difficulties for people.
The list below, supplied by the MoE, is designed to help Principals check that a school is using all the staffing it is entitled to and staff members are getting paid.
- Confirm the staffing levels determined and paid for by the Ministry of Education.
- Confirm who is paid directly by the Ministry of Education from Teachers Salaries (TS).
- Confirm other staffing determined and paid for by the board of trustees.
- Confirm who is paid from the Operational Grant (BG).
- Confirm the full cost of wages and salaries to be paid from the Operational Grant for the year matches budget expectations.
- Check the SUE (Staff Usage and Expenditure) reports to see that all staff members have been paid correctly. Their level of pay must fit the conditions of their employment agreement. This includes special allowances, responsibility payments, and any adjustments from a previous pay period.
- Confirm that your school’s banking staffing processes follow the pattern you expect.
- Ensure pay adjustments for the next pay period are made before the “cut-off” time laid down by your pay authority.
Section 4: Appointing Staff
As mentioned earlier school staffing can be fluid, needing to respond to the changing roll during the year and between years. As an educational leader the Principal seeks the best appointees for any position, those who are able and ready to advance school development.
A good appointment process will ensure that the best choices are made and an overview list of what to consider and to do can be found on the educational leader website, with further background material on the NZSTA site:
Activity:
Respond to one of the following scenarios:
EITHER How banking staffing links to leading learning:
“It is 26 April. You need additional teacher hours to deliver a 10-day gifted and talented programme during August. Make a practice copy of your banking staffing spreadsheet and set this up so that in August you can employ another full teacher for the equivalent of 10 days”.
OR How staff changes link to leading learning:
It is 29 June. A permanent teacher resigned yesterday, taking effect from the end of term 3. She is teaching a composite year 3–4 class if you are in a primary school, or a teacher of health and physical education if you are in a secondary school. Some members of staff and your board chair lobby you to immediately advertise the position in the Education Gazette. It closes at 5.00pm tomorrow.
What are you, as the educational leader, going to do about this by noon tomorrow?
Assessment:
- Completion of all readings.
- Participation in the online forum discussion.
