Teacher specific staffing allowances

Allowances are provided as additional non-permanent staffing, and will be removed from the date the teacher ceases to meet one or more of the criteria.

Allowances are only available for teachers employed from teachers’ salaries (TS) and who remain employed from TS. Boards are liable for any relevant allowances for teachers employed from the bulk grant (BG).

Allowances available

The following table summarises the time allowances available for teachers requiring advice and guidance:

Eligibility for beginning, overseas, and retrained, teacher time allowances

These allowances are available to assist boards in providing professional advice and guidance programmes to teachers who are beginning, newly arrived or returned from overseas, or retrained.

To be eligible for these allowances, teachers the board employs must:

• be paid from Teachers’ Salaries (TS), or be relieving for a teacher who has been granted a Ministry of Education National Study Award and is paid through National Study Award funding code (MQ). In this case, the teacher relieving for the beginning teacher must also be charged to the National Study Award funding code (MQ) up to the value of the Beginning Teacher Time Allowance (0.1 FTTE or 0.2 FTTE) and no application for the time allowance should be made.
• be appointed to a position of 10 weeks/1 term or more.
• have completed a course of teacher training, retraining, or NZQA equivalent, recognised by the Secretary for Education.

Definition of teaching experience for these allowances

The beginning, overseas, and retrained teacher time allowances are available for boards employing teachers who have less than a specified amount of teaching experience. For the purposes of these allowances, teaching experience includes any employment of 0.50 FTTE or more from TS for a full term or 10 consecutive teaching weeks.

This is regardless of whether the appointment is permanent or relieving. It excludes employment of less than 0.50 FTTE and day-to-day relief work.

Rules for beginning, overseas, and retrained teacher time allowances

Allowances may not be deferred.

The Resourcing Division monitors teacher specific staffing allowances. Allowances will be removed if the teacher for whom the allowance is provided ceases to meet the eligibility criteria for the allowance. In such cases, cessation of the allowance will be back-dated to the end of the pay period in which eligibility ceased.

Boards applying for an allowance for non New Zealand registered teachers recruited from overseas must have sighted a copy of the teacher’s NZQA Assessment Report, confirming that the teacher’s qualifications are comparable to the educational level of a Diploma of Teaching from a New Zealand teacher education provider or other recognised training provider. If this assessment is not immediately available, the application for support should still be submitted when the teacher commences employment. If the forthcoming NZQA documentation fails to confirm the teacher’s qualifications, the allowance will be withdrawn.

Applying for beginning, overseas, or retrained teacher allowances

Boards should complete the appropriate application form from the Ministry’s website at www.minedu.govt.nz/resourcingforms as soon as the teacher is appointed.

Other allowances available

The following table summarises the allowances for teachers providing mentoring:

Te Atakura Time Allowance

Teachers of Māori language formerly trained in colleges of education under the ‘Te Atakura Scheme’, were also trained to perform the following additional duties:

• To provide guidance, support, and positive role models for Māori students.
• To provide liaison between the school and the Māori community.
• To assist in the development and implementation of taha Māori in school programmes and act as a resource person for the staff of the school.

A time allowance of up to 0.5 FTTE is available to secondary and composite school boards employing Te Atakura teachers full-time, from Teachers’ Salaries (TS), to enable them to perform these duties. The time allowance applies only to those teachers who were trained and qualified up to 1992 under the ‘Te Atakura Scheme’ approved by the Secretary for Education. Approved courses of training ceased at the end of 1992.

This time allowance is provided to boards because it is recognised that the principal function of these teachers is to teach Māori language. The time available within the teacher's timetable for undertaking the other responsibilities listed above will depend on the requirements of the Māori language programme, and be consistent with the provisions of the STCA or the ASTCA.

The allowance is limited to the normal school day contact time engaged in the additional duties listed above. It is expected that this engagement will be identified on the Te Atakura teacher's individual timetable. Any allowance granted will cease should the Te Atakura teacher cease to be employed from TS, resign, alter their employment designation, is granted leave without pay, or goes on approved study leave.

Note: Approval for such an allowance for a qualifying new appointee should be sought from the Resourcing Division

Specialist Classroom Teacher Time Allowance - secondary

Secondary schools are entitled to apply for a time allowance for a named teacher to undertake mentoring and support for teachers, including beginning teachers, to enhance quality teaching practices.

• Appointees to permanent Specialist Classroom Teacher (SCT) roles must relinquish all salary units but may hold one fixed term unit where the school requires continuation of a specific responsibility, or chooses to extend the purpose and functions of the SCT role and provide further recognition.
• Appointees to fixed term SCT roles must relinquish, for the term of appointment, all salary units but may hold one fixed term unit, where the school requires continuation of a specific responsibility, or chooses to extend the role and functions of the SCT position and provide further recognition.

Specialist Teacher Time Allowance - secondary

Secondary school boards are able to apply for a time allowance for a teacher designated to provide professional learning support to other teachers in the school, including beginning teachers, to enhance quality teaching practices.

• Appointees to permanent Specialist Classroom Teacher (SCT) roles must relinquish all salary units but may hold one fixed term unit where the school requires continuation of a specific responsibility, or chooses to extend the purpose and functions of the SCT role and provide further recognition.
• Appointees to fixed term SCT roles must relinquish, for the term of appointment, all salary units but may hold one fixed term unit, where the school requires continuation of a specific responsibility, or chooses to extend the role and functions of the SCT position and provide further recognition

Specialist Teacher Time Allowance - composite

Composite school boards are able to apply for a time allowance for a teacher designated to provide professional learning support to other teachers in the school, including beginning teachers, to enhance quality teaching practices.

• Appointees to permanent Specialist Teacher (ST) roles in U6 and above schools must relinquish all salary units but may hold one fixed term unit where the school requires continuation of a specific responsibility, or chooses to extend the purpose and functions of the ST role and provide further recognition.
• Appointees to fixed-term ST roles in U6 and above schools must relinquish, for the term of the appointment, all salary units but may hold one fixed term unit where the school requires continuation of a specific responsibility, or chooses to extend the role and functions of the ST position and provide further recognition.
• Upon application, a U5 composite school board may be able to have some flexibility in the limit of holding one fixed term unit in conjunction with the ST allowance.
• ST appointees in U1 to U4 composite schools cannot hold more than two permanent units and hold no more than one fixed term unit in conjunction with the ST allowance

Study Support Grants

A time allowance of 0.16 FTTE is available to secondary and composite school boards that employ a teacher who holds a Study Support Grant awarded by the Ministry

U1/U2 First Time Principal's Development Release Staffing

Development release staffing will be provided to U1 and U2 school boards for every day (up to 10 days) the first time principal is away within the first 18 months on professional learning opportunities to improve management and professional learning leadership capability.

• The daily FTTE will be 0.10 for one pay period for each qualifying day
• This is the only additional staffing that will be provided to the school to assist with management and professional learning leadership capability.

The U1 and U2 First Time Principal’s Developmental Release Time form can be found on the Resourcing Forms page.