The pay equity settlement for school administrators has been approved and implementation began in term three of 2022. We’ve waited a long time for this – NZEI Te Riu Roa members raised this pay equity claim with the Ministry in 2018. We’re proud to have reached this moment.
The 'arguability' of the admin pay equity claim came down to three key points. These were deemed sufficient to indicate that the role of administrative staff in schools has been undervalued on the basis of gender. These points were:
In order to rectify the imbalance that is present in the administrator role, any settlement needed to address three key areas.
In order to address the inequality present in this space, work was undertaken to identify evidence of two key things:
This information formed a frame of reference by identifying comparator industries and roles and using these to establish what an equitable resolution would be, rather than relying on an arbitrary pay rise or pay out.
You can read more about the pay equity process here or find the full evidence report under the resources section below.
The implementation began in term three of 2022 and will continue as schools work through re-grading staff and ensuring they are on the correct rates.
NZEI Te Riu Roa members can access personalised implementation support. Join now or get in touch with the member support centre to find out more.
Check out more of the progress that NZEI Te Riu Roa members have achieved together.
In 2019, we made the message loud and clear – it’s time. Time to lead, teach and learn.
The pay equity process was the first proposed pay equity settlement for a Māori workforce in New Zealand history and included an average pay increase of 79%. The settlement also included a commitment to improving professional learning and development, a new parental allowance, an overtime allowance, better rules for progression and an updated work matrix to determine grading.
The success of any group always relies heavily on the strength of the leadership. Our primary principals are taking on that crucial role in our schools, ensuring that staff, students and parents all get what they need from the school.
In September 2017, NZEI Te Riu Roa lodged a pay equity claim on behalf of all teacher aides, providing evidence that their work is mostly done by women and that it was being undervalued as ‘women’s work’. In 2020 this claim was endorsed by the ministry.
Ministry of Education Support Workers were the first education sector group to achieve a pay equity settlement, setting the precedent to allow all subsequent claims to be possible.