Priority for teachers causes upset

Press, 23 October 1986, Page 7

Priority for teachers causes upset

ASHLEY CAMPBELL

By

Some Christchurch secondary school principals are worried about special treatment being given to teachers from Sacred Heart and Xavier colleges. The two colleges will close at the end of the year, and a new co-ed ucational school, Catholic Cathedral College, will be opened. Some jobs will be lost.

To ensure that teachers from the two schools have the first choice of jobs at the new college, all of the 48 teachers have been granted priority rights. This means that if they apply for similar jobs anywhere in New Zealand they must get these. About five secondary school principals met in Christchurch last week to discuss the situation. Mr lan Leggat, principal of Christchurch Boys’ High School, said they were worried about the granting of priority rights to all the teachers.

The principals felt that the teachers should have had the chance to apply for jobs at the new college, and then only those who missed getting jobs

should have been granted priority rights. Instead, as the jobs for the new college have not been advertised yet, the teachers can now apply for other jobs in Christchurch. Already two teachers have applied for other jobs — one at Christchurch Girls’ High School and one at Shirley Boys’ High School. Miss Joan Prisk, principal of Christchurch Girls’ High School, said she had had a “large number of applications” for the job advertised.

Mr John Mullins, acting principal of Shirley Boys’ High School, said he had received 12 applications for two mathematics positions in the school. One of these was from a teacher with priority rights.

Christchurch has traditionally been a difficult place for secondary school teachers to find jobs. The jobs for the new college will not be advertised until December.

In the meantime, the teachers from Sacred Heart and Xavier colleges have the choice of applying for other jobs in Christchurch, knowing they will get these, or

waiting and applying for jobs at the new college, with a possibility they may not get the job they want.

Principals in other schools said there would have been no problem if the jobs for the new college had been advertised earlier. The teachers could then have applied for those jobs, knowing there was time to find other jobs in Christchurch if necessary. The Education Department’s acting district senior inspector (secondary), Mr Norman Sinclair, said the jobs could not be advertised before December.

“The reason is that a board (of governors) has to be put in place, and a principal appointed before teachers can be appointed,” he said. None of this could be done until the agreement to set up the school was signed by the Minister of Education. This had been done only a few weeks ago, he said.

“The whole process is being fast-tracked as it is,” Mr Sinclair said. "It just could not have been done any faster.”