PPTA members vote to boycott Educanz nominations

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1382" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;03&sol;SND13-wk4-PPTA&lowbar;vote-angela&lowbar;roberts&lowbar;&lowbar;300x225&period;jpg" alt&equals;"SND13-wk4-PPTA vote-angela roberts 300x225" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"225" &sol;>PPTA members have given us the strongest indication yet that they want nothing to do with the undemocratic Educanz nominations and appointments process&comma; PPTA president Angela Roberts says&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a recent membership-wide ballot&comma; 94&period;9 per cent of those who participated voted in favour of a motion to not accept nomination or appointment to the Educanz council nor participate in the body&&num;8217&semi;s consultation processes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Effectively&comma; the ballot result means that anyone who puts their name forward for nomination or accepts an appointment won&&num;8217&semi;t be in a position to claim to speak for secondary teachers&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Members of Educanz must understand that they will serve the minister and the government of the day ‒ not the teaching profession&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Last year the PPTA&&num;8217&semi;s annual conference voted to empower its executive to develop a range of responses to the Education Amendment Bill &lpar;no&period;2&rpar;&comma; which aims to replace the New Zealand Teachers Council with a government-appointed body&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>These included giving PPTA&&num;8217&semi;s executive the power to determine the extent to which the association would co-operate with the new body and putting proposals for actions against the new council to a teacher vote&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The Educanz model as it stands allows the minister to hand-pick an exclusive club&period; By stripping away the professional voice of teachers and not allowing us to elect our own representatives to our own professional body&comma; Educanz will struggle for credibility&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;