2 Responses

1. Scenario:
   It is 29 June. A permanent teacher has resigned, effective at the end of Term 3. The teacher currently teaches a composite Year 3–4 class. Some staff and the Board Chair are lobbying for the position to be advertised immediately in the Education Gazette, with applications closing at 5:00pm tomorrow.
   Question:
   What am I, as the educational leader, going to do about this by noon tomorrow?

   My Initial Leadership Position
   By noon tomorrow, I will NOT rush to advertise immediately, despite pressure to do so. Instead, I will take deliberate steps to ensure that the staffing decision supports student learning, strategic priorities, and legal responsibilities under NAG 3. I will also consider the students who will be impacted by decisions being made, their parents’ need for careful communication, giving reassurance that their children will not be negatively affected by changes, and with a plan for action and a positive outcome going forward.
   Advertising quickly without reviewing the educational implications risks appointing someone who may or may not meet short-term needs and may not strengthen long-term learning outcomes. It also risks student and parent distress and mistrust, as information regarding the teacher leaving is leaked instead of being given by the school positively.
   As an educational leader, staffing is not simply an employment task — it is central to improving learning and maintaining the well-being of all stakeholders.
   Linking Staffing Decisions to Leading Learning
   Staff appointments directly influence the quality of curriculum delivery, team collaboration and leadership capacity, student achievement, and well-being. This resignation creates an opportunity to intentionally strengthen teaching and learning, not just replace a teacher (depending on teacher availability mid-year).
   Key questions I will consider include:
   What learning strengths do our students currently need? What capabilities are missing or emerging in the team? How can this appointment enhance collective teacher capability? How will the team maintain collaborative practices with a new team member?
   For a composite Year 3–4 class, this may include:
   Strength in differentiation across year levels and learning levels
   Confidence in literacy and numeracy acceleration, with new NZC requirements to the fore.
   Strong collaborative teaching practices
   Legal and Ethical Responsibilities (NAG 3)

   NAG 3 requires the Board and leadership to be a good employer, to follow fair and transparent employment processes, ensure personnel decisions are legally sound, and maintain high-quality employment practices.
   A rushed advetisement does not give time for reflection, prioritising student well-being, and future-focused planning.
   So, as Principal I have to make sure:
   The position is carefully defined and the process is fair and transparent, that the outcome supports learning, and perhaps the most important consideration, that student well-being and parent perception of the situation is positive and they feel that the school has everything under control.
   What to do by the next day:
   I would communicate or meet with the Board Chair to go over the action plan, with reference to best outcomes for all stakeholders. I would also gently remind the Board Chair that this situation is a management issue, not a governance issue.
   I would reassure the Board Chair that the position will still be advertised in a timely manner, that a short delay strengthens the appointment quality, and that we remain compliant with employment expectations. This demonstrates leadership that balances urgency with quality. It also reminds the Board of their role (governance), and the role of the Principal (management).
   Before advertising, I would review:
   The job description and person specification, and the curriculum focus (in our case, if PYP experience is not available, knowledge and experience of inquiry learning is preferred), and skills in differentiating for the needs of the students. in a combined year-level class.

   Appointment Timeline: in this case, we have more than the required 8 weeks notice from the teacher who will stay until the end of Term 3. This means the appointment process can remain timely, unrushed and will hopefully result in an excellent appointment. Because it is a mid-year appointment, I would be prepared to make the role a fixed-term appointment, so we can ensure the best possible candidate becomes permanent, whether it is the mid-year appointee or not.

   Log in to Reply

2. Scenario: 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. Some members of staff and your board chair lobby you to immediately advertise the position in the Education Gazette. It closes at 5.00 pm tomorrow.  

   Actions:

   I explored the GovHub Resource Centre and had a look through the information on Advertising and Job Descriptions, as it is quite clear about what is required, time frames, etc.

   Because the resignation doesn’t take place until the end of Term 3, which is still a good number of weeks away at this point (29 June 2026 being the Monday of the last week of T2) and also the new appointee won’t be taking up role until the start of Term 4 (which this year is 12 October 2026), then there is breathing space to work through the process in a measured and structured way (roughly 15 weeks if we include the week of the resignation and 2 lots of school holidays), while still giving effect to the Education and Training Act 2020 – 604 Obligations to notify vacancies – where the vacancy must be notified in a manner sufficient to enable a suitably qualified person to apply.

   The Gazette closing at 5:00pm tomorrow is not a major issue, as the job advertisements go live on the online portal, within two business days of being uploaded online. I noted that the Gazette shifted to an online-only format in 2025. They also have some suggestions for wording the advertisement.

   The lobbying by staff/board chair is in some ways reactive, rather than responsive, although it will be driven by concerns around the certainty of having a teacher in place for that class, possibly the optics and comms from the perspective of the community may be a concern that is driving the push, especially from the board chair.

   Another consideration is that if the staff member resigned yesterday, then it’s highly likely that this isn’t actually widely held knowledge even within the school, and the full board may not have been notified. There is also the fact that the appointing school will be working through their own time frames to notify their wider school community, and we will need to consider ours, including discussion with the resigning staff member about when it will become public knowledge.

   Looking at GovHub, 2 things that particularly stood out are that a position should be advertised for at least 14 days, and also that you should nationally advertise positions of one year or more. You also need to make sure you have a clear job description for the role.
   Furthermore, I would consult our school’s advertising and appointment procedures to make sure I am following those, as well as the requirements of the primary teachers’ collective agreement.

   This isn’t a decision to be rushed, and we also need to give consideration to things such as whether we would be looking to appoint an experienced teacher or whether the position would be suitable for a beginning teacher. We also need to think about the timing for any successful candidate to be able to give sufficient notice to their current employer, if that is relevant, as the standard is 8 weeks.

   We’d need to think through our options should we not find a suitable candidate, either through initial advertising or the interview process, in which case, someone may need to be appointed in a fixed term capacity to cover the class while we go through the recruitment process (which according to the resources GovHub is an acceptable reason for a Fixed Term Agreement, although I would still approach that with caution and would definitely be contacting NZSBA to talk it through).

   Consulting our school policy documents, I noted that:
   School procedures for ending employment
   On receiving notice of resignation, Matua Ngaru School acknowledges the resignation and confirms the notice period and the last day of work.

   When considering all of the above, and looking at the original question, which was, what would I, as an educational leader, do about this by 12:00 pm tomorrow, I would do the following:

   I would look at all those elements I have listed above, one of the first steps being to check the information in our policy documents, the collective agreement and GovHub links and resources. Then I will have planned out the timeline for all of the other aspects mentioned above to occur so that I know it is in a measured, responsive manner, which means we don’t overlook anything that could come back to bite us in the future. The resignation from yesterday may have been at the end of the school day, for example, which means I may have only really had the day to think it through and look at those 3 sources of information mentioned above.

   Part of my plan will have been looking at a suitable date for interviews to take place that will allow time for the relevant reference/safety checks to be completed, whilst still allowing time for the successful candidate to be notified and have time to consider and accept ( or decline) the job offer and give notice to their current school if that is relevant (for a PCT or overseas trained teacher, that may not be a factor). Thus, my planned date for the advertisement to go into the gazette would be Thursday, 4:00 pm at the latest (our 12:00 timeframe in this scenario being a Wednesday), which means the advertisement will likely go live on the Monday of school holidays. Because it’s holidays, I’d most likely have it close at the end of the first week of Term 3, with shortlisting, interviews and checks happening within the 2nd and 3rd weeks of term, which should give sufficient time for the appointee to give notice.
   By having until Thursday to get anything into the Gazette, I have allowed time to make sure that we have a suitable and accurate job description, a clear idea of what we are looking for in a candidate, and a well-written advertisement that is clear for candidates and helps us to attract the best possible person for the role.
   By having a written timeline as a plan, I can reassure the Board Presiding Member that we have a process in place and communicate this with them. For the staff members who are lobbying, I can let them know that we will be following our school’s employment processes and that they will be updated as and when it is appropriate to do so. (The scenario doesn’t say whether it’s a teacher, a team leader, another senior leader or the school secretary – as the as and when for updates and my response to their lobbying would vary depending on this).

   Essentially, I would make sure I was not hurried into rushing the process by others’ reactivity, whilst still allowing them to feel respected and heard, but also ultimately ensuring that everything is done in a timely and accurate manner.

   Log in to Reply