Cultural leadership allowance (CULA)

This allowance recognises the mahi done in schools and kura by kaiako with extensive cultural knowledge and capabilities, serving as cultural leaders within their schools and community.  There are separate cultural leadership allowance provisions for teachers and principals.

Principals

To be eligible for this allowance, principals must:

• be employed under the Primary Principals’ (NZEI) Collective Agreement 2023-25, Primary Principals’ (PPCBU) Collective Agreement 2022-2025 (from 1 November 2024), Area School Principals’ Collective Agreement 2023-25, or equivalent Individual Employment Agreement (IEA), and
• lead a school or kura which offers a Level 1 or Level 2 te reo Māori or Pacific language immersion programme (as defined by the Ministry School Roll Return Guidelines).

The allowance is $5,000 each year and is paid fortnightly.

Eligible principals as at 28 January 2024 should have received this allowance automatically. Payments began from pay period 23, pay day 5 February 2024.

Eligible principals who were not employed from 28 January 2024 and have not yet received allowance payments will be identified automatically when their payroll information is loaded into EdPay. Their payment should be processed in the next available pay run. These allowances will be effective from the principal’s date of appointment to a school already offering a Level 1 or Level 2 te reo Māori or Pacific language immersion programme or the date from which the school’s immersion programme met the eligibility criteria for this allowance, whichever is later.

Teachers

The allocation of allowances for teachers is limited in number. Eligible phase one primary and area school were contacted by the Ministry of Education about the process to allocate 1 allowance per school to a suitable teacher on 22 February 2024.

Allowances will be allocated on a permanent basis (or for the duration of the employee’s fixed-term employment) from 28 January 2024.

An allowance will be $5,000 each year and paid fortnightly at the substantive rate to both part-time and full-time teachers.

Only 1 teacher at an eligible school can receive 1 full allowance, however this can be split between 2 teachers where the employer agrees. In this case, the allowance and responsibilities will be equally split between 2 teachers at $2,500 each per year.

To be eligible, a teacher must:

• be employed in a school which is eligible for a Cultural Leadership Allowance in a permanent or fixed-term position of 6 months or more under the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2023-25, Area School Teachers’ Collective Agreement 2023-25, or an equivalent IEA and
• have been selected as the teacher in an eligible school to receive the allowance (only 1 allowance is available for each eligible school, but this may be equally split between 2 teachers); and
• have met the professional standards relevant to their current position; and
• be able to demonstrate to their employer they are providing cultural expertise and leadership across the following settings:
• school-wide leadership – supporting staff
• school-wide leadership – supporting students
• community leadership.

The allowance is part of the Ministry’s commitment to improving pay and working conditions for frontline education staff and recognising the important role they play.  Details about the purpose of this allowance, eligibility criteria andagreed process to allocate these allowances to teachers can be found at on the Ministry’s website – Cultural leadership allowance

Adding the allowance for one teacher using EdPay

1. Go to EdPay > Employee dashboard
2. Select the teacher who is receiving the allowance
3. On the teacher's Job page, scroll down to Allowance entitlements
4. Select the plus icon in the top right corner, to open the list of allowances