Principals unite for fight

Press, 18 December 1989, Page 40

Principals unite for fight

PA Auckland Secondary school principal factions have united to fight the State Services Commission’s push to negotiate individual terms of employment. Principals will be employed on contracts from next year under the Government’s new education policy, Tomorrow's Schools. The policy requires individual principals to negotiate a contract with their school’s board of trustees, which would 5

then be rubber-stamped by the commission. But the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association principals advisory committee chairman, Mr Norm Pointon, said school heads wanted to set up a means by which basic contract terms could be collectively agreed. A base contract endorsed by the P.P.T.A. — the principals’ union — should be built into the State Services contract, he said. The Secondary School

Principals’ Association and the principals’ advisory committee had formed a working party to investigate an acceptable solution to both parties. Mr Pointon said principals would have to formalise an industrial body to make collective representation to the commission over the contracts. The group, which will report in February, would draw on the P.P.T.A. for databases and expertise.