Travelling reliever
I stood up in church the other week and was asked to talk about what it was like to be a Christian teacher in today’s secular society. I shared a bit then at coffee afterwards some lovely people said how great it was to here ordinary folk with ordinary lives for a change. It was nice, but it’s not why I’m mentioning it. A teacher friend of mine chatted with me afterwards and brought to my attention something I hadn’t thought about for a while.
When I was relieving at Sherenden I was paid mileage for the trouble of going out that far. I talked about this with my friend at church and he was relating a story about the fact that he requests mileage for each of his relieving days. Apparently there is a 10km radius where you can’t claim but after that you can claim regardless of the school you work in. There was a certain administrator he was dealing with that basically claimed they had no knowledge of the ‘mileage allowance’ and therefore refused to pay. The NZEI rep said that the reliever was entitled to the allowance provided he had to travel more than 10km to the school. Please Educate the Dragon . Does anyone know anything about this or have similar stories. Is the relieving pool being conned out of hundreds of dollars in mileage each year? Or is it just me and my mate?
It sounds to me like people are getting a little too greedy! Schools in today’s society have to pay the travel from their own school money. It cannot be claimed back from MOE. Perhaps the reliever should indeed be grateful for the work- remembering that many people are being laid off. If the school is a fair distance from town then a school may offer mileage. As a person with senior management experience and having a pool of relievers, it is good for you to know that many relievers going onto lists offer NOT to charge mileage!
The ‘People’ you refer to AL are they the People from NZEI who negciated it? or are you referring to individual relievers who should wave the mileage just to be niceguys?
I can appreciate the position schools are in regarding the paying of mileage as being extra. However, there are a few things in place in the school’s favour, not least of which being the CAP at 10 experience points for relievers.
It is a fairly good money on a day by day basis, however it I still have to work five days to pay the bills. When I first gave up my permanent position I had calculated we could manage on 4 days wages, giving me a day in hand to pursue a furhter education opporunity. Little did I realise the CAP would scupper that idea.
I’m assuming now, so some NZEI rep can put me right. That the 10 point CAP was there as so counter to to the expense of mileage. If it wasn’t it sounds like it could have been.
After writing to you last, I have spoken with fellow colleagues. The conversation went something like this… Relievers that charge for a few km’s over the threshold are relievers that generally you do not want in your school. They are not there for the children, they are simply there to collect a pay packet.
The relievers that you do want are the ones who enjoy working with the kids, the ones that don’t clock watch!
From personal experience, I have realised that the majority that are relieving are the ones who cannot hold down fulltime employment and got out prior to being taken down the competency track.
I suggest that if your friend is charging for a couple of km’s that they revisit their philosophy and think about how that is percieved in schools.
Just as a by the way, I pay travel for relievers that come further than the 10km’s.
Wow, That is quite a sweeping statement.
“From personal experience, I have realised that the majority that are relieving are the ones who cannot hold down fulltime employment and got out prior to being taken down the competency track.”
It concerns me somewhat. Do you think that is the general perception of senior management toward their day-to-day relievers.
My other thought about that comment is that I was wondering if relievers realised that they were percieved in such a way.
What do you do to relieve the pressure when members of staff are sick. I have heard that larger schools are now appointing additional staff to cover CRT, PRT and general sickness. I’d appreciate your views on this AL.
I work in a larger school and yes, we employ a person in a .5FTTE position. This person is a highly skilled practitioner.
The situation we are in at the moment with the additional staffing requirements for PRT & CRT mean that there is a real shortage of teachers- hence why teachers that in the past would not have been employed are being used. In short, that is why we do not employ sub standard, day to day relievers!
Good luck ,with your relieving work! It sounds from your response that you are rather thin skinned and obviously the comments made have been taken to heart!
I’m a very sensitive sort. However, I do not take your comments to heart. Currently I’m not relieving but I’m just a little concerned as next year approaches. I don’t want to be left on the ‘reliever’s list’ if senior management are going to look down upon me. As for my friend, I don’t know.
I do agree with you that there is a deperate shortage of teachers in the profession. And I happen to know many on the reliever lists in Hawkes Bay – Not all of them will I recommend for the reasons you have mentioned.
Anyway, we seem to have headed off on a tangent. In summary, you say that relievers should not go nit picking for the odd km here or there, but if it is a significant distance then fair enough. Like country schools where obviously there is a distance involved regardless of where the reliever be living.
Perhaps you’re right.
Perhaps it is a matter of conscience for the senior management as to what is reasonable.