New Teacher Payroll (Novopay) Fails to Deliver
Today should have seen the start of the new Novopay system for teachers. But its looking more like another failure for the Ministry of Education with some teachers missing out. The constant attacks on teachers from the current government and drive to reduce costs has taken a very sinister turn the Ministry of Education seems unable to organise even the most basic tasks such as payroll and is constantly insuring that it is teachers that pay the price for Ministry sort comings.
This is just another failure to add to a growing list that includes a complete inability to measure teacher workloads and the impact of government or ministry policy changes on workloads. That a large proportion of teachers now on anti depressants and feature in large numbers on mental health client lists.
This latest failure in the interests of saving money will have serious ramifications and should see pressure for real change within the Ministry or the sacking of Secretary of Education Lesley Longstone. Whichever way it goes I will be watching with interest. Its clear that the Minister cannot trust the advice of the Ministry.
Well there has been silence so far from the Ministry’s Novopay group which is impossible to contact, 2 hours waiting on the phone was enough for me. A call to the Ministry’s Media liaison when straight to the answer phone and there has been no response as yet to a call placed this morning. You would think that they would have had extra support staff on for this first run. But at the very least there should have been an urgent press release to keep people informed especially their Banks. Who is going to carry the additional costs. Heads really do need to roll or is this just another ploy to save money in education, don’t pay the teachers?
Day 2. Still no payments to the accounts. But now its starting to bite. Automatic payments are out mortgages paid and bank charges are starting to bite. What will bounce? Stll no official word from the Ministry of Education and no personal advice to the victims.
I am to try the methods in the e-book on cloasrosm management, next year when I start teaching at primary school in Johannesburg, South Africa. A student teacher at the Universtry of Johannesburg.Kind RegardsStewart McCallumps need information on dealing with large classes! (between 35-70 learners in a class)
does the Ministry have any idea how many were unpaid and what caused the problem? Why the silence?
It should be dutcmenoed in school records and as another commenter suggested, special needs just might be a better fit for that child. One of the problems facing educators are these particular instances. Who should get the attention? Every child deserves an equal amount of attention from the teacher, and every now and again its cool if one child needs additional attention on a specific matter. But when that teacher has to continuously provide extra attention to the same child over and over again, that child should be a teaching environment where they can get more one on one attention from a teacher. And a regular classroom is not it.
Look at the arrogance and unprofessional attitude of the Novopay ‘Governance Board’ with this! Thinking it is just a ‘bit annoying’ that some people haven’t been paid.
My Wife STILL hasn’t been paid from pay due a week ago, she has been promised three times now it will go through, including a virtual guarantee it would go in last night – it didn’t! BNever before in my life have I come across this – people simply not being paid, and their Employer thinking that it is ok for them to just wait a few weeks while we sort it out.
The most annoying thing is, you just can’t do anything about it. You cant as an individual even speak to anyone at Novopay, the Ministry is having Payroll Managers resign because they can’t handle the stress of all of this, so you don’t know who to speak to there, and so on.
Novopay – you are on very thin ice, along with your incpompetent Government who gave you this contract!
Let’s start with the basics:- Does the child know about cqoesnuences?- Children are motivated [like adults] through reward and recognition.- Start by building self-esteem.Why do teachers have to do a parents job? I understand “it takes a village” but some who should be responsible don’t have a clue. Still, I wonder what the parent’s side of the story is. A meeting with the principal, guidance counselor, teacher, and parents should be a good starting point.
Personally, I do much like the name, I do believe it’s type of neat. I think it’s a liltte simpler to say. I think they are being very in keeping with a few i relate with them whenever the retail price preceding the name.But, as with everything else, everybody has their personal preferences. Each to his or her own, It’s my job to say. What’s your choice?
I agree with Rachel as an Elementary teacher the best adcvie I could give you is finding a teacher that would be willing to let you go into there classroom. Teaching is hard work but very rewarding. You will never make a lot of money, have to deal with angry parents, spend a lot of your own money of resources for your classroom, and work a lot outside of school (grading, preparing etc) but if this is the right career for you all of these things become less important and trying to educate a teach achild is what really matters.If you want some questions when I was in college we had to go and observe and some questions I asked my cooperating teachers were:What is the most/ some rewarding things that you find as being a teacher?What are some of your challenges that you face? Hardest things about being a teacher?Describe a typical dayHow do you deal with angry parents? demanding?Why did you become a teacher?What keeps you teaching?What are three (or whatever number you want) things you wish you knew going into teaching your first year that you didn’t learn from school or student teaching?those are some things I thought of otherwise google what to ask my cooperative teacher? questions to ask a teacher?S
how constant attacks on teachers from the current government and drive to reduce costs?