By DITA DE BONI education reporter
Early indications from PPTA groups across New Zealand suggest the Government is looking at a fresh showdown with teachers come Monday.
On that day, the result of ratification votes on the Government's latest proposal will be made public by the PPTA.
But news of a 600-100 vote against ratifying the proposed settlement by Wellington region secondary teachers yesterday was just one more sign that teacher discontent has found expression in this week's secret ballot.
Hawkes Bay and Canterbury teachers are understood to have rejected the deal, and a meeting of 700 teachers in South Auckland this week - while less acrimonious than those in other parts of the country - was also expected to yield a "no" vote.
The latest offer from the Government in the 15-month dispute would give teachers a 5.5 per cent pay rise over three years, and an allowance of $3500 for administering the National Certificate of Educational Achievement, as well as extra teachers and more non-contact hours in years to come.
The agreement has been endorsed by the PPTA executive, although one source at a Wellington meeting told the Herald that executive members at that region's meeting - not including president Jen McCutcheon - did "not try very hard to talk teachers into accepting".
A "no" vote on Monday would mean more strike action and a grave outlook for the NCEA qualification that has replaced School Certificate for fifth formers this year.
Some teachers have told the Herald that NCEA coursework is too far advanced to be stopped this year, but that the qualification's end-of-year external exam, which counts for 50 per cent of a student's total mark in a subject, might have to hold more weight if industrial action further disrupted the school year.
That might mean a School Certificate-like end to the year, which the partly internally assessed NCEA was designed to replace.
Next year's NCEA programme for sixth formers - to replace Sixth Form Certificate - may be in jeopardy as well. If industrial action continues, the "jumbo days" scheduled for next term, where teachers come together to plan the roll-out of the programme, will be boycotted.
Auckland PPTA chairman Alan Papprill said that at a recent regional meeting there was a feeling of complete opposition to marking, assessing and any other NCEA work from members.
"It's like an animal we don't like and feel we should send to the vet."
Mr Papprill stopped short of saying what teachers would do with the qualification, saying any indication of further action would have to wait until voting was over.
Education Minister Trevor Mallard said yesterday that it was "a matter of law" that all PPTA members would go on individual employment agreements on July 1, if settlement was not reached.
"That is something I have no power over," he said.
"My priority is to get a fair settlement - one that values teachers and lifts the quality of education in our secondary schools."
He has apparently been advised to walk away from negotiations with teachers until after the election.
Students and parents who have spoken to the Herald say the NCEA means more assessment work for teachers and more study for students.
Alexandra Honnor - a year 11 student attending Western Springs College - was studying "an enormous amount more" under NCEA, said her mother, Mia Carroll.
"I am desperately trying to understand the new system, but I have noticed that more study is going on, and the marking also seems to be a bit tougher."
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