Teacher aide pay equity operational guidelines for schools

Guidance for schools on the implementation of the teacher aide pay equity settlement.  

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5 Tiaki allowance

Key points in this section:

  • The settlement creates two types of Tiaki allowance frequent and occasional.
  • Frequent – teacher aides who perform Tiaki duties at least once per day on average will receive an additional $2.59 per hour on top of their hourly rate.
  • Occasional – teacher aides who perform Tiaki duties occasionally will receive a Tiaki allowance of $4.81 per incident (can be claimed up to once a day).

Teacher aides can be required to provide personal care by cleaning up a student soiled with bodily fluids as part of their role, either frequently or occasionally. Currently, teacher aides (and other support staff) receive an allowance of $3.85 per incident, to a maximum of once per day for doing this work.

As part of the settlement, there will now be two types of Tiaki allowance for teacher aides:

  • Frequent
  • Occasional

In a teacher aide role, you can only receive one type of Tiaki allowance, not both at the same time.

Frequent

Teacher aides who perform Tiaki duties at least once per day on average (or up to five times per week) will receive an extra $2.59 per hour on top of their hourly rate.

Teacher aides will receive this hourly allowance even if on a certain day they do not have to perform this work (e.g. the student is absent from school).

The new hourly allowance is set at 10% of the step 5 pay rate of the B-C grade. This allowance will increase as the rate of step 5 of the B-C grade changes. On 27 November 2020, the rate will increase to $2.67 per hour.

Occasional

For teacher aides who are required to perform Tiaki duties occasionally, the current allowance of $3.85 per incident (up to once per day) will be increased by 25% to $4.81 per incident (up to once per day). On 27 November 2020, the rate will increase to $4.95 per day.

Teacher aides cannot claim this allowance on days when they do not perform Tiaki duties.

This 25% reflects the average increase to teacher aide rates as a result of the settlement.

The new Tiaki provisions will apply to teacher aides only. For other support staff, the existing Dirty Work allowance of $3.85 per day remains in place.

Case Study

  

Lyn | Caring for a student with high medical needs 
Lyn is looking after a student with high medical needs. Most days, she needs to help her with toileting. Lyn will receive the frequent Tiaki allowance of $2.59 per hour in addition to her hourly pay rate. She will also receive the allowance on days the student is not at school, and she helps with other work. The allowance should be set up as a regular payment along with her usual pay. Information will be provided on how to do this through Education Payroll. 

 

Case Study

  

Alex | Occasional support with Tiaki duties 
 

Alex works at a primary school and assists with a numeracy programme. Some days one of the children needs toileting help. Alex is entitled to receive an additional allowance of $4.81 on the days he helps perform this Tiaki care. The school will need to claim this by timesheet.

 

 

 

Action for schools

Education Payroll will seek information from schools about your teacher aides who perform Tiaki duties – whether they perform these frequently or occasionally.