Collaborative health and safety process essential for schools & ECE services

NZEI Te Riu Roa continues to follow official public health advice and is supporting members to adapt to changes to vaccine mandates, vaccines passes, contact tracing, and gathering restrictions announced today.

Ensuring the health and wellbeing of tamariki and staff in ECE and primary school environments will remain a key priority for educators, the Union’s President Liam Rutherford says.

“There will inevitably be some anxiety about the removal of the vaccine mandate and this needs to be acknowledged while schools and services work to ensure their health and safety processes prioritise people’s wellbeing.”

Schools, kura, kindergartens and early childhood centres take seriously the responsibility to provide a safe workplace. Having a consultative and collaborative process in workplaces to discuss and assess health and safety risks and mitigation in the light of today's decision is not only a right for everyone working in schools and centres, but a good process to follow to work through the issues.

We know that our principals, school leaders and early childhood centre managers will be working hard with their boards and their parents to ensure that they continue to provide a safe environment for teachers, support staff and tamariki.