Source: Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA)
Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president, said outside of collective agreement negotiations paid union meetings were held when there were government proposals that would affect members, the teaching profession, schools or ākonga.
“The focus of these meetings will be how we as a profession respond to the Government’s proposals to channel money out of public education and into charter schools, and how we as a union will continue to develop our constitutional objective to affirm and advance Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
“There has been a glaring lack of consultation and information, from both the Ministry and the Ministers of Education on how charter schools will work, despite repeated requests for details through official information requests and face-to-face meetings.
“Charter schools were a hugely expensive and unproven experiment, when they were last introduced back in 2014. Funded totally by public money, they can be run by whoever wants to run them, they are not required to be transparent or accountable, they can use untrained and unqualified staff as teachers and they’re not required to teach the national curriculum. The fact that all the charter schools – bar one – were able to be reintegrated successfully back into the state school system demonstrates there was no need for them in the first place.
“We are seriously concerned this time around about existing schools being converted to charter schools. There are signficiant implications for children and young people’s access to their local school, teachers’ terms and conditions of work, redundancy costs, property issues and much more. Every school community has a right to know what is being planned.”
Chris Abercrombie said teachers were also concerned about the effect of Government policies and decisions on Māori student achievement, and its responsibilities under Te Tiriti.
“We are concerned that some of the Government’s policies are undermining the great work that has been done in schools towards improving educational outcomes for ākonga Māori.
“We cannot stand by while that work is unravelled and we cannot stand by while local schools are privatised.”
The meetings will be held during the fortnight from Monday 13 May to Friday 24 May.
PPTA Te Wehengarua paid union meeting schedule
