Proposed settlement for kindergarten teachers
After four days of negotiations, we now have a proposed settlement to bring back to NZEI Te Riu Roa members covered by the Kindergarten Teachers, Head Teachers and Senior Teachers Collective Agreement for ratification. See the key points below.
What's in the proposed settlement for kindergarten teachers?
Pay parity
The proposed settlement retains parity with primary and secondary teachers by giving you the same unified base scale they won in their settlement. The unified pay scale means:
- An average base scale increase of between 3.4 - 7.2% effective from 12 July 2019 (in order to unify the pay steps), a 3% increase on 12 July 2020 and a 3% increase on 12 July 2021
- A new top step of $90,000 from 12 July 2021
- An increase in the maximum step for P1, 2 and 3 from 12 July 2020
If you take normal step progression into account, the proposed settlement would give all current kindergarten teachers a pay rise of at least 18.5% by 12 July 2021.
Estimate your pay increase over the term of the agreement by using the pay calculator below.
Kindergarten teacher pay increase calculator
Enter your current pay step and qualification group below to see what your new base salary would be after 12 July 2021 if the proposed settlement is accepted.
Note that this takes into account the pay scale changes and normal step progression.
Reading the new pay scale
The pay calculator above will tell you your base salary after 12 July 2021 if the proposed settlement is ratified.
Note: because the proposed settlement changes from a 12 step scale by condensing the bottom 3 steps, the step names change but the base salaries increase.
e.g. A teacher currently on step 8 P1 max ($59,621) would be on the new step 6 as of 12 July 2019 ($62,000) and would progress to new step 7 ($68,000) in July 2020 and new step 8 ($75,190) in July 2021.
Also note: P3 teachers on step 11 would progress to the new P3 max step 10 ($85,490) in July 2021, but P3+, P4 and P5 teachers currently on step 11 would progress to the new top step 11 ($90,000) in July 2021.
A $1,500 one-off payment and advantage for union members
Aside from the pay scale changes, the proposed settlement also contains a one-off gross payment of $1,500 (pro rated for part-time staff) for teachers who were NZEI Te Riu Roa members on 12 July 2019, and a delay (1 October 2019) in passing on of new conditions to non-union members.
Lifting of P caps
Along with the unified pay scale, the proposed settlement would see a lifting of qualification caps from 1 July 2020.
This would mean P1, P2, and P3 would all have the same maximum step (new step 10) from July 2020.
Workload
The proposed settlement doesn't address the issues we raised around workload and release time, expertise allowances, refreshment leave or improved career pathways.
We pressed these important issues as hard as we could in negotiations.
For head and senior teachers
An increase for head and senior teachers to address relativity issues, including incorporating the head teacher allowance into the pay rate.
The proposed settlement also includes:
- A commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi
- Refreshment and lunch breaks to reflect the updated legislation
- Removal of the National Professional Standards from the agreement (you're covered by the Teaching Council standards)
- The term of the collective agreement is for 3 years from 12 July 2019 to 11 July 2022