Pay Equity
Pay Equity is about people being paid the same for work that is the same or substantially similar, or different but of equal value.
Pay Equity acknowledges the value of the skills, responsibilities and demands of workers in female-dominated occupations that have suffered from gender-based discrimination because of perceptions and prejudices about the value of “women’s work”.
The Government is committed to removing and preventing gender-based discrimination in the remuneration and employment terms and conditions for work done within female-dominated jobs.
In 2020, an amendment to the Equal Pay Act (1972) made it more straightforward to raise Pay Equity claims.
Teachers’ Pay Equity Claim
Following the amendment to the Act, both PPTA Te Wehengarua and NZEI Te Riu Roa raised a claim for kaiako | teachers. These two claims were consolidated into the Teachers’ Pay Equity Claim. The claim covers more than 90,000 teachers and leaders across the early childhood and schooling sectors.
Assessment Phase
PPTA Te Wehengarua (PPTA), NZEI Te Riu Roa (NZEI) and the Ministry, with support from an advisory group of ECE employers, have completed around 290 teacher interviews covering the breadth and depth of teachers' work as part of the claim.
The interviews have been analysed and insights gathered from the interview transcripts. These are summarised in a ‘General Areas of Responsibility’ (GARs) report, which describes the responsibilities of kaiako | teachers and leaders in early learning, primary, secondary and kura settings.
Sector Validation
Sector validation is the process of coming back to the teaching sector to confirm our findings, and to identify if anything is missing. We are asking you to read through the report, and then identify if anything is missing or confirm you agree with the findings.
The sector validation consultation will run from 9 September to 18 October.
The responsibilities identified from the interviews have been arranged into key themes. There are 10 themes in total. The 10th theme specifically describes the additional responsibilities of kaiako working in Kaupapa Māori and Māori-Medium settings, as well as kaiako Māori in kura auraki.
Hui Whakamana – online
The hui whakamana are a consultation option for kaiako and tumuaki working in kura kaupapa Māori, kura ā-Iwi, Māori immersion and bilingual settings as well as te reo Māori kaiako in kura auraki (English medium schools). Kaiako and tumuaki are invited to the hui to consider the data on the additional responsibilities for kaiako Māori, which has come from the interviews, and identify any missing responsibilities.
The opportunity to register for online hui whakamana will be available when the consultation opens.
The online hui will be offered from week 2 of the consultation period. Each hui will run for approximately 2 ½ hours and will be outside of teaching hours.
To prepare for the hui, please read the GARs report, including section 10 so you are ready to contribute to the korero. Additional support material will be provided after you register.
Click on one of the links below to register for the hui that works for you.
1 o Oketopa, 6 - 8:30pm (Puna reo focussed)
How to access the GARs and Survey
The GARs document and survey are available on the Ministry of Education website:
https://workforce.education.govt.nz/teachers-pay-equity-claim-validation-interview-findings
To provide feedback on the GARs you will need to:
- Read the GARs report (you can read it online or download the report).
- Take notes and identify anything that is missing.
- Share your response to the GARs by completing the survey (linked above).
In the survey you will be asked to confirm or identify what is missing from each area of responsibility.
We expect it could take up to 3 hours to read the report, take notes and provide a response to every question. You do not need to provide an answer for every area and may choose to focus on only some areas of responsibility
You can complete the survey as an individual or as a group. Group responses will need to include how many people are in the group, contact details of at least one person, and that they consent to being contacted.
Group responses can be informal or more formal such as network, special interest or management groups.
The survey will be open until 5pm, 18 October.
Please note, we can only accept GARs feedback through the survey.
