Kindergarten teacher offer shows vast improvement

Kindergarten teachers from NZEI Te Riu Roa, New Zealand’s largest education union, met with the Ministry of Education yesterday and received a new offer on their collective agreement which will be voted on by members in early May.

The offer follows an historic strike held on 16 March, in which kindergarten teachers joined teachers and principals from primary and secondary schools around the country. This was the first-time kindergarten teachers have joined strikes with their primary colleagues.

Virginia Oakly, a spokesperson for the NZEI Te Riu Roa kindergarten teachers’ negotiating team, said the new offer was a vast improvement in meeting key issues that kindergarten teachers have been campaigning for.

“For the first time the negotiation team feels like all of the priority issues have been addressed in some way.”

Ms Oakly said that the offer’s recognition of the need for more sick leave for kindergarten teachers was a crucial point for members. The offer raises sick leave from 10 days to 15 days.

“Covid decimated our sick leave balances. We had a heightened responsibility not to bring sickness into the workplace, but many of us had simply run out of leave. Working around young children means that we are exposed to every illness under the sun. Going into winter it remains a key issue.”

The offer also takes a first step in recognising the vital importance that kaiako Māori in kindergartens.

Reweti Elliott, who is a kindergarten teacher and a negotiating team member, said the offer that the Ministry has tabled for cultural leadership is historic and provides a recognition of teachers’ leadership and expertise in Te Ao Māori and Te Reo Māori.

“We were utterly persistent in this claim. A dear friend wrote me a whakataukī for the process: ‘Kapohia te toi runga’ which means ‘aiming high for what is truly valuable’. Kaiako Māori carry a big load in kindergartens, around te reo and tikanga, so it’s very heartening to see this claim recognised in the offer.”

The offer, if accepted by members, would see pay increases of between 11.1% and 13.9% for union members, and would raise the top pay bracket from $90,000 to $100,000 by December 2024.

“This is a significant movement forward in the offer, enough to take this to members who will vote on it in early term 2,” said Ms Oakly.

ENDS