The secondary teachers' union says its members accepted the government's pay offer because they wanted to clear the decks before the start of next year.
It says the settlement is a foundation, not a finish line, in terms of teachers' pay and conditions.
The Post Primary Teachers' Association announced this afternoon its members have voted to accept a deal providing two pay rises totalling 4.6% over two years.
The offer was put to a ballot after facilitated bargaining with the Public Service Commission.
Association president Chris Abercrombie said the union's members wanted to settle the pay deal so they had a clean start to next year.
"I think they really wanted to settle it to get a a settled start to the year next year," he said.
"There's significant change in our sector at the moment, we know there's curriculum, there's assessment, there seems to be changes coming out of the government weekly in the education space, sometimes daily it feels, and so I think they just wanted a settled environment so they could focus on the other areas they needed to focus on."
Abercrombie said the settlement provided a better pay rise and fewer clawbacks than offers teachers had previously rejected.
He said the pay rises of 2.5% and 2.1 % delivered in January 2026 and in January 2027 were over a term of 24 months, whereas the previous offer had similar increases over a 30-month term.
Some wins
Abercrombie said the settlement also increased allowances for teachers who had extra duties and did not include a previous government claim for more teacher-only days outside of the school term.
He said the pay rises kept pace with current inflation but did not get teachers' ahead of rising costs.
"So there was some wins, but there was also some clear areas that we didn't get," he said.
"So I think we need to see this settlement as a foundation and definitely not a finish line. There's some key areas that we want this government to be working on and we'll be watching carefully to make sure they occur in the future."
Education Minister Erica Stanford said the settlement recognised the effort and hard work of secondary teachers.
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the settlement meant 80% of trained secondary teachers would have a base salary of more than $100,000 from 28 January 2026.
Meanwhile, Educational Institute Te Riu Roa said primary and area school teachers were waiting for new offers and had further talks scheduled for next week.
It said primary principals have been in further negotiations and were expecting an offer while area school principals had negotiations scheduled and were expecting an offer.
The NZEI said support staff, kaiārahi i te reo, guidance counsellors and therapists rejected offers this week that included pay rises totalling 4.3% over 30 months.
In October this year, about 500 principals represented by the Primary Principals Collective Bargaining Union accepted an offer that increased their pay by 4.7% over two years.
Primary, secondary and area school teachers held a one-day strike on October 23.
Education sector pay talks
Secondary school teachers
Accepted a deal providing a 2.5% pay rise in January 2026 followed by a further 2.1% in January 2027.
The settlement followed facilitated bargaining between the PPTA and Public Service Commission.
Primary school teachers
Still in negotiations. Previously rejected an offer that provided pay rises ranging from 1.4% to 2.5% in the first year and 1.3% to 2.1% in the second year.
Primary school principals
About 500 principals represented by the Primary Principals Collective Bargaining Union accepted in October an offer worth 4.7% over two years.
Principals represented by the Educational Institute Te Riu Roa have yet to settle and were expecting a new offer from the government.
Area school teachers
Refused an offer of 4.7% over two years. Represented by NZEI and PPTA. Talks scheduled for next week.
School support staff
Refused government offer of 2.1% pay rise in a vote that closed December 3. Represented by NZEI.
Community education
PPTA members voted to accept a deal that provided about 440 staff including tutors a 3.8% pay rise over the term of the agreement. Some non-teaching staff would get increases of 25 to 3.5%.
Residential special school staff
Members of the Public Service Association accepted a settlement in October. It provided residential staff with pay rises of 2.1 % to 2.8%, and administrative staff with 1.2% to 2.7% over a 22-month term.
The Education Ministry said it would apply to 144 union members and 97 others.
