Hon David Seymour
Associate Minister of Education

Associate Education Minister David Seymour welcomes the PPTA putting a proposal to members at its annual conference to change its constitution and allow membership of teachers who work in charter schools.

“The PPTA has had a come to Jesus moment on charter schools. This is a major departure from the union’s previous position and shows they’re finally accepting the reality of charter schools,” says Mr Seymour.

“When charter schools were introduced last time round, the unions were steadfast in banning their membership from working at charter schools. They even went as far as preventing charter school students from participating in area sports competitions or accessing services shared with state schools for offsite education.

“It’s good to see them soften their stance and be more inclusive to charter school teachers. It will mean students don’t face barriers to things like sports and facility access for the sake of a union and teachers will have more options for employment.

“Including charter school teachers means that the union can initiate single employer collective bargaining with the sponsor. Charter schools will have independence to negotiate changes to employment terms and conditions relevant to their school and do what they think is best for their teachers and their students.

“Unions will not be able to initiate multi-employer collective agreement bargaining for charter school staff.

“Multi-employer collective agreements would affect charter school sponsors’ level of influence over the types of terms and conditions offered to their employees and could therefore influence the flexibility the schools can provide in teaching and other aspects of school operations.

“Charter schools are all about improving outcomes for students. Flexibility is essential for this as it will drive an increase in innovation and choice within education, meeting needs and expectations of students, and increasing the quality of education.”

Note: The PPTA’s proposed change can be found on pages four and six of this document https://www.ppta.org.nz/annual-conference-papers-2024/document/2495.

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