An education union staunchly opposed to charter schools has changed its constitution so teachers who work at charter schools can be members of the union.

Associate Education Minister David Seymour, who is driving the re-establishment of charter schools, says the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) has had a “come to Jesus moment” and was “finally accepting the reality of charter schools”.

But the union says their opposition to the alternative schooling model remains as strong as ever – and they changed their rules in response to a provision added to the new charter school legislation.

As well as the powers to create entirely new charter schools, the legislation also allows for a state school to be converted into a charter school. In some instances, a state school could be forced to convert.

Charter schools have operated in New Zealand before – they were introduced in 2014 by Act and abolished in 2018 under Labour, which sees them as an ideologically driven move that undermines the public education system.

Before today, the union’s policy did not cover teachers in charter schools as the union considered charter schools as they were between 2014 and 2018 as not state or state-integrated.

The union’s constitution only covers teachers in state and state-integrated schools.

The provision in the current legislation would mean, unless the union’s constitution was changed, teachers in converted charter schools would lose their membership.

PPTA executive member Austen Pageau, who moved the paper at the union’s annual conference on Wednesday, said the group’s strong opposition to the schooling type remained.

“This time we are going to have schools converted rather than simply being new and we couldn’t abandon our members in schools where we believe, because of these secret contracts and the lack of Official Information Act coverage, are going to be much more precarious, risky employment.

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“As a union, it’s our job to defend and protect our members. We want to limit the harm.

“We want them gone. We want them reintegrated into the state system. But in the meantime, while they’re going to exist, we want to keep the workforce as professional as possible and as protected as possible.”

Seymour and the union have been at loggerheads over charter schools since it was announced.

A charter school is a state-funded school that operates on a 10-year contract and can set its own curricula, hours and governance structures.

Seymour says the model will “free educators from state and union interference”.

“The PPTA has had a come to Jesus moment on charter schools. This is a major departure from the union’s previous position and shows they’re finally accepting the reality of charter schools,” he said of today’s motion.

“It’s good to see them soften their stance and be more inclusive to charter school teachers. It will mean students don’t face barriers to things like sports and facility access for the sake of a union and teachers will have more options for employment.”

The Government has allocated $153 million to convert 35 state schools into charter schools and create 15 new ones. The schools will open from early next year.

The union says this money would be better spent in the existing public education. It has concerns about “secrecy” with the schools not being subjected to the Official Information Act. Private schools are also not subject to the Act.

Pageau says the schools could encourage competition, rather than collaboration within the sector.

“We think it is going to hurt education as whole. We are still totally opposed to it.”

PPTA Te Wehengarua president Chris Abercrombie said: “While our primary objective continues to be to stop the development of charter schools in Aotearoa New Zealand, and return any that are established back into state schools, we believe the association should be able to continue to cover members if a state or integrated school is converted.”

“Today’s decision by annual conference means that PPTA Te Wehengarua decides who can be members, not the Associate Education Minster and his hand-picked authorisation board.”

Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.