Evolve Education Supports Full Pay Parity

Recognised Qualifications Determining your Entry Step

The first part of the FPP calculation is the review of your qualification(s) and this determines the starting step that your service/ recognised work expeirence will build from. The level(s) of your degree(s) will determine your entry step; this is detailed on the following pages

Recognised Qualifications P1, P2, P3

P1, P2, P3 - this is for teachers who hold a current practicing certificate with NZTC, but have no subject or specialist qualification at level 7 or above. This group includes teachers who have obtained their practicing certificated via the NZTC discretionary pathway process (provided they have received an ECE or Primary endorsement from the council)

Recognised Qualifications P3+

P3+ - this is for teachers who hold a current pracising certificate with NZTC and:

A subject or specialist level 7 qualification on the NZQF (that is, not an initial teacher education qualification) which can be a diploma (excluding a national diploma), graduate diploma or degree, or

(Please see the link for a list of all approved ITE providers in NZ: Approved ITE Programmes leading to Teacher Registration: Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand)

Recognised Qualifications P4

P4 – is for teachers who hold a current practicing certificate issued by NZTC and:

A subject or specialist level 8 qualification on the NZQF which can be an honours degree or a Post Grad Diploma or two subject or specialist qualifications on the NZQF OR a masters degree of teaching OR equivalent overseas qualifications assessed by the NZQA.

Recognised Qualifications P5

P5 – is for teachers who hold a current practising certificate issued by NZTC and:

A subject or specialist level 9 qualification on the NZQF – masters or doctorate OR equivalent overseas qualifications assessed by the NZQA.

Frequently Asked Pay Parity Questions

How is Full Pay Parity calculated?

There are three elements to calculating your FPP entry step (and accurate residual hours to ensure correct progression once you start with us)

Your qualification(s)
Your recognised service hours.
Your previous relevant service hours (aka ‘non-certificated service hours’)

Your qualifications(s)

Your starting step is determined by your qualification level(s) and accumulated teaching hours. Evidence of your qualifications (transcripts or NZQA/ New Zealand Qualifications Authority approvals) are required to establish this.

(You will need original copies of your qualifications and/ or transcripts for this step)

Your recognised service

These are the hours of work you have completed as a certificated/ registered teacher.

These are the hours of work you have completed as a certificated/registered teacher in a licensed NZ ECE centre, kindergarten, or state/state-integrated school.
To accurately establish this, you’ll need to provide evidence, this can include: your date of first registration with the NZ Teaching Council, payslips and/ or a certificate of service (aka “statement of hours”) from your employer.

Your relevant service hours (non-certificated service hours)

These are the hours of work you have completed before you became a certificated/ registered teacher.

Previous relevant paid work experience means professional employment using knowledge of the education service, and/or teaching skills
To accurately establish this, you’ll need to provide evidence, ideally certificate of service (aka “statement of hours”) from your employer, or payslips.

Why do you request detailed information? (eg statement of hours or payslip)

FPP is calculated down to the specific hours of work.

Your calculation is not just about your FPP entry step with us, it’s also vital that we understand your residual hours (hours you have already worked within your current FPP step) as this is used to calculate your progression to the next step) therefore, its more accurate to have the hours.

Evidence of your first registration date (provisional registration) allows us to determine what service hours we can use toward your recognised service, and which hours will count toward relevant service hours.

If you are unsure of the month and year of your registration, you can contact the Teaching Council for this via enquiries@teachingcouncil.nz - please give your full name, registration number, and request the date you were first provisionally registered.

We can calculate from a resume, but it takes longer (relies on your resume and memory) and requires specific information about your hours per week, accurate dates of employment, and any holidays you took – this process is longer and can be less accurate.

Please note, we are unable to do this for causal/ relieving roles as it's impossible to determine actual hours worked.

How many certificated working hours are required for each step?

1 year or 2080 hours based on a 40 hour working week.

What is the definition of a Certificated Teacher?

For Pay Parity purposes, to be a certificated teacher you must have:

A NZ ECE or Primary teaching qualification (initial teacher education qualification aka ITE) and a current practising certificate, or
An overseas qualification assessed by NZQA as comparable (meets core knowledge requirements) to an NZ ITE ECE or Primary teaching qualification and a current practising certificate, or
A letter from the Teaching Council with a clear ECE or primary endorsement (where registration has been gained through the Council's discretionary pathway), and a current practising certificate.

Note: secondary teaching qualifications do not meet the eligibility criteria.

Do all of my relevant service hours count?

2 years (4160 hours) or non-certificated/ non-qualified hours will give you 1 FPP step.

This must be worked within the last 10 years, a capped at 2 steps (8,320 hours)

All offshore experience is considered relevant service hours experience.

What types of non-certificated experience can be used for this calculation?

What age groups? Teaching experience must be for children ages 14 and under.

Are nanny/ aupair hours considered? Yes – as long as this was not for a private employer (parents)

Are lecturing/ teaching hours considered? Yes – as long as this is specifically for ECE.

Licenced home-based ECE service experience is included.

For recognised qualifications, are there any limitations to be aware of?

Yes – a BA Teaching is capped at FPP Step 10, but if you gain more degrees, you will be able to progress further up the FPP Scale.

I’m an overseas trained teacher – is there anything I must do beyond my registration requirement?

Yes – in order to be counted in ratio, you must have an NZQA assessment of your qualifications, as well your NZ Teaching Council registration. More info can be found here.

Always ensure you refer to the NZ Teaching Council for accurate and current information.