Community Education Collective Agreement

On 26 November 2025 the Community Education Collective Agreement (CECA 2025-2028) was ratified by members of the PPTA union.

This collective agreement covers approximately 440 employees in this workforce, many who are working part-time across the year to deliver Community Education programmes through schools.

The settlement provides pay rate increases to all staff, depending on their role and current pay scale step. Tutors, Professional Supervisors and Non-Teaching Coordinators Level 2 will receive an increase of 3.8% over the term of this agreement. Non-Teaching Coordinators Level 1 and Level 3 and Coordinator Assistants will have access to pay progression and additional rate increases ranging from 2% - 3.5% over the term of this agreement. 

The new rates will be effective from 26 November 2025 for employees who are PPTA members, or from the membership join date if they joined later than 28 November 2025 (the date the collective agreement was signed). 

An individual employment agreement will be promulgated by the Secretary for Education by 5 December 2025, following the signing of the collective agreement on 28 November 2025. For employees who are not PPTA members, the new rates will be effective from the date the employee and employer sign the IEA. This cannot be before the date the IEA was promulgated. 

The settlement also applies the Administration Support Staff in Schools Pay Equity Claim Settlement, which covers Non-Teaching Coordinators and Coordinator Assistants. The alignment to these pay scales will apply pay corrections from 20 August 2021, or the date of employment, whichever is the later.  

These changes will be implemented in phases. The collective agreement changes will be applied on 17 February 2026. The progression increments, re-calculation of allowances, holiday pay, will be paid by 28 April 2026, and termination pay will be processed by 12 May 2026. 

Non-teaching Coordinators and Coordinator Assistants need to sign the promulgated IEA to receive the Administration Support Staff Pay Equity Claim Settlement. The alignment to these pay scales will apply from 20 August 2021, or the date of employment, whichever is the later. 

The Ministry will publish guidance on the implementation for schools and employees to understand these changes. 

Actions for schools and kura

• Note the details of the settlement, including the new pay rates for people employed in roles covered by the collective agreement.
• Offer the new individual employment agreement (IEA) to existing employees who are not PPTA members but are working in roles covered by this new agreement.
• Check that you are using the correct designation codes in payroll for your employees.
• Ensure you offer the new IEA to future CECA employees, should they choose not to be PPTA members and thus are not covered by the collective agreement.
• Update the offer of employment template letter that you are using for new employees to ensure this aligns with the new terms and conditions of the recently settled collective agreement (available from NZSBA). 

Contact

For questions about the settlement or the new collective agreement contact the Ministry’s ER team:  employment.relations@education.govt.nz.  

For general HR issues contact Te Whakarōpūtanga Kaitiaki Kura o Aotearoa New Zealand School Boards Association: eradvice@tewhakaroputanga.org.nz.