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Recruiting principals – covering vacancies

Recruiting principals – covering vacancies

What happens if the principal’s employment ends before their successor can be appointed?

Usually, the principal will stay on until the board works through each of the stages it needs to and appoints a new principal.

However, the principal’s employment sometimes ends before their successor can be appointed.

This means an acting principal must be appointed while the school completes the recruitment process.

Two options are available to schools; both require using fixed-term employment agreements.

The first option is to appoint a current employee to act in the principal role (as per school policy and procedure) while your board consults with the community and recruits.

Often, this employee will be the deputy principal or another senior school leader.

This employee remains employed on their respective teaching collective agreement but is released from their regular day-to-day duties so they can perform the duties of the principal.

They are paid an allowance while they are doing this work.

Once the new principal begins working at the school, they return to their previous position and duties.

This arrangement needs to be documented. The following letters can be used:

The other option is to appoint someone external/outside the school to be the interim principal until a full recruitment process can occur for the principal role.

Your board will need to advertise the acting principal vacancy and undertake a recruitment process.

This includes shortlisting, interviewing, and safety checking to identify an appropriate external candidate to hold the position, or your board may already know of a principal who is available and willing to take on the role of acting principal for the short term.

They are appointed for a fixed term while your board consults with the community and recruits a permanent principal.

We recommend that this appointment is for no more than three months to enable the board to conclude a recruitment process and appoint a suitable candidate.

The external hire will be employed under the applicable principal’s collective agreement.

Once the new permanent principal begins, their employment with the school ends.

This arrangement needs to be documented like any other employment at your school. The following letters of offer (LoO) are available for use: 

If, when the employee returns their letter of offer, they indicate they are not a member of a union, also provide this form within ten days of them starting employment: Form for new employees to indicate if they intend to join a union.open_in_new

Further information about what to do with this form can be found in the Help for Principal’s article employment in a unionised environment in the Employment in a unionised environment section.

Remember, your board needs to declare and manage any conflicts of interest and fulfil its obligations under The Human Rights Act.

For more information, read our article on staff appointments.

Templates, resources, and references    

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Links from us

Community Law

Employment New Zealand

Human Rights Act 1993

Ministry of Education