Effective Date:
National Administration Guideline 3
The Minister of Education has issued National Administration Guideline 3 (NAG 3) to all schools, which states:
According to the legislation on employment and personnel matters, each board of trustees is required in particular to:
- develop and implement personnel and industrial policies, within policy and procedural frameworks set by the Government from time to time, which promote high levels of staff performance, use educational resources effectively and recognise the needs of students; and
- be a good employer as defined in the State Sector Act 1988 and comply with the conditions contained in employment contracts applying to teaching and non-teaching staff.
Policy Statement
This policy details the schools strategies to deliver on National Administration Guideline 3 as notified by the Ministry of Education to develop and implement personnel and industrial policies, promote a high level of staff performance, use educational resources effectively and recognise the needs of students. The Board’s policies which relate to oversight of the Principal are addressed in the Governance Framework and Overarching Policies.
Scope
This policy applies to the Board and staff at the school.
Purpose
- Personnel
-We recognise that by providing staff with optimum working conditions, adequate resources, effective on-going training, career opportunities and encouragement, we will foster staff well-being and promote high levels of performance.
- The promotion of staff well-being will allow for the retention and development of good quality staff.
- The Allocation of Fixed Term Units
-To develop a set of general principles that underpin the allocation process.
-Fixed Term units may be allocated for the following specific tasks involving a whole-school influence:
i.Curriculum leadership
ii.Sports Organisation
iii.Resource Responsibility
iv.Other areas that the staff view as appropriate
- Classroom Release Time
-To address teacher workload while maximising benefits for student learning. The use of classroom release time will be professionally useful for the growth of the school’s teaching and learning programmes, the teachers’ professional growth and the learning needs of the students.
-To allow for the retention and development of good quality staff
- Study Awards
-To support teachers’ professional development.
-To allocate money that has been raised by the staff for the award.
-To encourage staff retention.
- Teacher Performance Management
-To ensure teachers are accountable in delivering an effective teaching and learning programme.
-To provide staff with feedback about their performance, achievement, strengths and development needs.
-To appraise a teacher’s performance in relation to the achievement of school and personal goals against the Ministry of Education professional standards that have been identified for all teachers.
-To provide direction in teacher development programmes, which are appropriate to both individual and school needs.
- Staff Complaints
-To outline procedures for making and dealing with staff concerns and complaints and to ensure appropriate action is taken to resolve complaints.
-To ensure that when any action is taken, the high standard of education of the school continues for the students without disruption.
-To alleviate as many stress factors in the work place as possible.
Strategies
The Board has approved the following strategies:
- Personnel
(A)Smoke-free Environment
(a)The school will provide a smoke-free environment for students and staff.
(b)The school will comply with current smoke-free legislation.
(B)Equal Employment Opportunities
(a)All personnel policies and practices will comply with current EEO legislation.
(C)Harassment
(a)Harassment is not acceptable at school and the Board has specific procedures to deal with this.
(b)Harassment refers to behaviour that is unwelcome and personally offensive. It includes all those actions and practices which may:
- Cause humiliation, offence or distress; interfere with job performance, or create an unpleasant work environment.
- Comprise of remarks or actions associated with a person’s sex, race or other characteristics i.e. some jokes
- Emphasise a person’s sexuality over any other role.
(c)Complaints will be addressed by following the procedures set down by NZEI guidelines and government legislation.
(D)Staffing
(a)All staff will be employed under an individual or the current collective agreement.
(b)The Board will abide by the provisions of the relevant contracts that affect staff.
(E)Appointments
(a)The Principal and appropriate staff member(s) will form appointment panels for all Scale A and Senior Teacher positions, and the Principal may invite a Board representative to also be on the panel.
(b)For Associate Principal(s); at least one person beyond the school staff will be co-opted to be on the appointments panel.
(c)For the Principal; at least two Board members, at least one staff representative, and an advisor or Principal will make up the appointment panel.
(d)The Principal has the authority to appoint part-time and long-term relieving teaching staff and non-teaching staff without input from the Board other than ratification.
(e)All appointments will be ratified by the Board assuming the following requirements have been met:
- the proposed teacher has a current registered practising certificate or provisionally registered practicing certificate;
- any financial ramifications of the appointment are manageable within Ngaio School's current budget;
- following the appointment Ngaio School will comply with the Ministry's rules in respect of teaching entitlements;
- prior to recommending the appointment, the Principal confirms he or she has followed all applicable Ngaio School Personnel policies, and has undertaken the following key steps:
■advertisement in the Education Gazette;
■interview;
■reference check; and
■reviewed the Educanz register for annotations.
(F)Staff Leave
(a)Leave is generally covered by the relevant collective or individual contracts.
(b)The Board has discretion in granting Special Leave with and without pay.
(c)The Principal has the authority to grant leave of up to one week on full pay.
(d)The Principal has the authority to approve applications without pay for up to four weeks, and will inform the Board when this occurs. The Board will consider all applications for periods longer than four weeks.
(e)The Principal retains the sole right of appointment of the required relievers.
(f)Leave will be considered on an individual basis with regard to:
- Learning needs of the students
- Arrangements for a reliever
- Reasons for leave
- Previous leave taken
- Consideration of the budget
(g)Ancillary staff may be granted leave without pay for any period during the school year on such terms and conditions as the Board may approve.
(h)Planned absences from the school by the Principal during term time need prior approval with the Chairperson of the Board.
(G)Staff Development
(a)The school will have a staff development programme for all staff.
(b)Through syndicate and self-review the school staff will develop annual objectives which incorporate new curriculum initiatives for school based development and professional development which reflects the current needs of the teaching staff.
(c)Parallel to this school-wide training there will be individual teacher development funded by the operations grant.
(d)Staff development/appraisal will be ongoing and allow the teacher/Principal to identify needs with the staff and provide training to meet these needs.
- The Allocation of Fixed Term Units
(a) Decisions regarding the allocation of Fixed Term units will be made in consultation with the staff in November/December of the year prior to the allocation being made.
(b)Notification will be included in the Principal’s Report to the Board.
(c)Fixed Term units must be given for a specific purpose, task or project.
(d)Units cannot be shared by two people at the same time. A unit can however be offered to several people on a fixed term basis: for example, four people could share one unit on a term by term basis.
(e)New units allocated to the school during the year will be assigned to staff for the remainder of that year.
- Classroom Release Time(CRT)
(a)In our school, classroom release time will be used for but is not limited to:
- Planning
- Evaluation
- Reporting
- Personal Professional Development
- Observing other teachers
- Reading Research
- Assessment
- Classroom release time may be used for other purposes through consultation with or agreement between the Principal and individual teachers.
(b)Each teacher will be allocated ten hours per term of Classroom Release Time.
(c)Teachers are expected to remain at school for their release time unless they are attending a course, visiting another school or doing something else that has been approved by the Principal.
(d)The classroom release teacher is expected to either follow the classroom teacher’s plan or take lesson(s) closely related to the long-term plan. To this end, the classroom release teacher will receive copies of the syndicate long-term plans, unit plans and syndicate minutes.
(e)When classroom release time cannot be generated for genuine reasons the school will:
- Record the reason for non-delivery
- Endeavour to reallocate the CRT at a later date in the school year
- Review the CRT policy if required
- Use the record of non-delivery when reviewing the policy
- Study Awards
(a)Money for the award fund will be raised by income from:
- Participation in University Programmes
- Any programme which is initiated by the teachers with Teacher Development as a focus
(b)Surplus funds will be carried over to the next year.
(c)As funds are limited teachers are expected to pay 50% of the cost themselves.
(d)Programmes, which take place when school is not in session, will be preferred, but Study Award leave during term time will be considered. If a grant is given for a course during school hours, part of the award is expected to go towards paying for teacher relief. In this instance remaining teacher relief will be sought from available school funds and these funds will influence whether leave is granted.
(e)Recipients of awards are to be listed in the Principal’s report to the Board.
(f)Applications are sought twice a year, closing in late April and late August.
(g)Applicants should submit to the Principal an outline of their proposed use of the Study Award, including time period and expected cost.
(h)The Principal will allocate the award(s), and may form a selection panel from members of the staff and the Board if required.
(i)The available money will be allocated to as many teachers as possible in any year.
(j)An applicant who is successful one year is still eligible for funding in the next year, but will have a lower priority.
- Teacher Performance Management
(a)All staff will undergo an annual performance appraisal.
(b)Every staff member will have a job description that incorporates the professional standards. This will form the basis of the appraisal.
(c)Teachers will be appraised using the criteria contained in the key performance indicators specified in their job description and using personal goals.
(d)Concerns should be addressed as they arise throughout the year.
(e)The appraisal of staff will be the responsibility of the Principal but actual appraisal may be delegated to senior staff members.
(f)Appraisal documents are confidential to the appraised, appraiser and the Principal.
(g)The Principal will keep appraisal documents of staff.
(h)The Principal is responsible for ensuring that outcomes of appraisals are acted upon.
(i)Every staff member will be entitled to receive development opportunities.
(j)The Principal will report regularly to the Board about the implementation of the appraisal process and its conclusions.
- Staff Complaints
(a)A concern or complaint may cover any aspect of school activity and may be made by any staff member.
(b)All concerns/complaints will be treated confidentially where possible.
(c)Concerns/complaints will be dealt with in a manner which is compliant with the Collective Employment Contracts.
(d)There is still recourse under the Protected Disclosure Act
(e)Staff and Board members may access professional support (i.e. NZSTA, NZEI) whilst following the procedures as outlined below:
Procedures for dealing with staff complaints
(a)The first action should be an informal discussion strictly between the parties involved to be held at a suitable time outside classroom hours.
(b)Where informal discussion has become inappropriate and/or the complainant feels no satisfactory result has been/can be achieved, the complaint must be directed first to a senior staff member.
(c)If the senior staff member is the subject of the complaint or if the above strategy has not been effective, the complaint should be directed to the Principal. The Principal may request that the complaint is put in writing.
(d)If the complaint is directed against the Principal, the staff member should initially present the complaint to the Deputy Principal for resolution. In all instances the senior staff member will seek to gain as wide an understanding as possible of the issue.
(e)If all of the above are not successful, the complainant may put in writing the complaint to the Board.
(f)The full Board or a delegated subcommittee may undertake an investigation. In conducting the investigation the board shall:
- Have regard to objectivity, knowledge of industrial relations and sensitivity to human rights issues.
- Gain as wide an understanding as possible of the complaint. Talk to all relevant parties and understand all associated concerns.
- Evaluate the justness of the complaint and report to the Board meeting with a recommendation for action to be taken.
(g)After consideration of the investigation report, the Board will decide on the resolution and/or action to be taken. The complainant and other parties will be advised, receiving reasons for the decision.
(h)Within thirty days, the Board will verify that the action decided upon has been undertaken.
(i)Regardless of the process outlined above, if an alleged misconduct is of a serious nature the Board may determine that an altered process is more suitable (e.g. that a staff member should be placed on paid leave during an investigation) and, if so, will notify the staff member, Principal and all relevant persons of the alternative process.
- Protected Disclosures
(a)If on reasonable grounds you believe you have information that a serious wrongdoing is occurring (or may occur) within the school and you wish to disclose that information so it can be investigated, you can make a disclosure to the Principal.
(b)This can be done verbally or in writing. You should identify that this disclosure is being made under the Protected Disclosure Act and is following the Board procedure, provide detail of the complaint (disclosure), and who the complaint is against.
(c)If you believe that the Principal is involved in the wrongdoing, or has an association with the person committing the wrongdoing that would make it inappropriate to disclose to them, then you can make the disclosure to the Chairperson of the Board.
(d)It is then up to the person you disclose to, to decide if the disclosure constitutes a serious wrongdoing, and that the allegations need investigating. They can decide:
- To investigate the disclosure themselves.
- To forward the disclosure to the Board or a committee of the Board to investigate.
- Whether it needs to be passed on to an appropriate authority. If it goes to an appropriate authority they will advise you that they are now investigating the complaint.
(e)If you believe that both the Principal and the Chairperson of the Board may be a party to the wrongdoing or in a close relationship with the person(s) involved in the wrongdoing you can approach an external “appropriate authority” directly.
(f)The complaint details must be kept confidential until the complaint is investigated and found to be upheld. This is to ensure that the accused individual’s rights are not breached.
Who is an “appropriate authority”?
(g)As noted above, in some circumstances the disclosure could be made to an appropriate authority by yourself or the person to whom you have made the disclosure.
(h)An “appropriate authority” is defined in the Act as including:
- The Commissioner of Police
- The Controller and Auditor-General
- The Director of the Serious Fraud Office
- The Inspector- General of Intelligence and Security
- An Ombudsman
- The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
- The Police Complaints Authority
- The Solicitor- General
- The State Services Commissioner
- The Health and Disability Commissioner
(i)It includes the head of every public sector organisation, whether or not mentioned in (h).
(j)Clause (i) can mean that in certain circumstances the appropriate authority could be the Secretary for Education of the Ministry of Education or the Chief Review Officer of the Education Review Office (ERO).
Why can’t I just go to the appropriate authority myself?
There are three circumstances when you can go directly to the appropriate authority:
(k)When you believe that the head of the organisation is also a party to the wrongdoing or has an association with the person which would make it inappropriate for them to investigate.
(l)If the matter needs urgent attention or there are other exceptional circumstances.
(m)If after 20 working days there has been no action or recommended action on the matter to which the disclosure related.
Otherwise you need to go through the internal process.
What happens if even the appropriate authority does nothing?
(n)You could then make the disclosure to the Ombudsman (unless they were the authority you have already disclosed to) or a Minister of the Crown.
(o)The Act does not protect you if you disclose information to the media or a member of parliament other than a Minister of the Crown in the circumstances referred to above.
Where can I find out more information?
(p)If you notify the Office of the Ombudsman verbally or in writing, that you have disclosed or are considering a disclosure under this Act, they must provide information and guidance on a number of matters including those discussed here and the protections and remedies available under the Human Rights Act 1993 if the disclosure leads to victimisation.
(q)A copy of the Act can be found on the internet at Legislation on Line (
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