NZEI needs to do some soul-searching: PPTA poised to ditch primary

This is just a quiet and tiny posting about a noisome and significant matter: NZEI’s ethos and decision-making processes.

The factors that led to the acceptance of the government’s pay offer, and to the attendance late last year of a meeting of the National Standards Sector Advisory Group (NSSAG) must be examined and, for the sake of primary education, radically changed.

I’ll go to ethos first.

Let me say first I love NZEI – it has been a source of comfort and caring, and an institutional friend for so many of us, for so long. The wonderful side of NZEI was to be seen last Tuesday with an excellent media release on the education implications of the proposed welfare reforms. (Also, with the terrific ‘Aotearoa’ magazine, the bus tour, the national standards seminars, the excellent people within it, and so on.)

But what was the acceptance of the pay offer and the membership of NSSAG all about?

This will be bitterly disputed, but NZEI’s maternalistic/paternalistic, you-can-trust-us approach is outdated. In the past, especially under Labour, it occasionally delivered gains, now it is nothing but a handicap. The playing of the good girl to the PPTA’s bad boy means NZEI members are not being sufficiently involved and politicised.

One of the outcomes of the present ethos is that when primary teachers have made gains under Labour, the NZEI has simply asked for more; while under National, leaving national standards to one side, NZEI has simply carped or been craven.

Note the way in the media release in which NZEI said it was a good deal in the circumstances. That’s being craven: allowing National to get away with murder at no political cost.

[A lot of this is covered in postings just before Christmas: ‘NZEI members should spurn pay offer’ and ‘We have been let down’ – which is about NZEI deciding suddenly to attend the NSSAG meeting – a decision almost completely unannounced.]

A good deal! First it betrayed our partner teacher organisation the PPTA and, second, 1.317% annually for a two year period, when inflation is tipped to rise by 8%, means teachers are taking a 6% pay cut. A good deal? Why couldn’t we have waited for the PPTA claim or, even better supported it?

Which leads on to the matter of decision-making processes.

Given the lack of politicisation of primary teachers, the broadly democratic way NZEI makes some decisions ends up being a caricature of democracy.

Conversely, given the maternalism/ paternalism referred to, and the good girl role NZEI likes to play with governments – it also sometimes feels empowered to make decisions close to its chest, like the invidious one to go anywhere near the toxic NSSAG.

So what is all this leading to?

The PPTA, with the connivance of the government, is set to avoid the entrenchment clause (which has, up to now, tied secondary pay rises to primary ones). I believe a settlement has already been made with secondary principals, and one with secondary teachers is imminent. National is, of course, delighted to be able to settle with secondary principals and teachers at no flow-on cost.

As for the NSSAG, I am just so tired of fighting the teacher organisations away from this oh so obvious government ploy which if it succeeds in its work will set teaching firmly down the dismal American-education path. (Remember, mid-year, when the NZPF upper echelons tried to pull a fast one to join? As well, these same upper echelons also had secret plans to join NZEI in this latest debacle.)

The question that has to be asked of the NZEI media release (17 February) that explained why NZEI had withdrawn from the NSSAG is: When did NZEI join it to be able to announce it had left?

This media release does a very smooth job easing out of a decision that wasn’t by describing NSSAG as ‘supposed to be providing an opportunity for sector groups to share experiences, identify issues and then feedback to the Education Minister.’

Absolute rubbish, the official web site says it is ‘to help implement national standards’.

What part of that can’t be understood?

A well-organised teacher organisation doesn’t need a motley crew like the NSSAG for giving messages to an education minister, for goodness sake, stand up tall, proud, independent and just say it.