Tagged (S65) positions carry a special responsibility for Religious Instruction. The legal definition is analysed below.
Every teacher in a Catholic school has an obligation to support the Special Character of the school. All teachers need to have spelled out to them in the job application pack and at the interview what this means, and they need to agree to do this. At the same time, tagged positions provide the legal safeguard, ensuring that the school can employ a sufficient number of Catholic teachers who understand and live by the Special Character, so that the school is truly a Catholic community. Teachers create this community by everything they say and do, and the Principal and Director of Religious Studies need the support of a sufficient number of Catholic teachers to sustain the Catholic community of the school.
Therefore teachers in tagged positions are not appointed simply to teach Religious Education, although this is the specialist task of some teachers with tagged positions. They are appointed to contribute to the Religious Instruction of the school. This phrase was chosen with care at the time of the Private Schools Conditional Integration (PSCI) Act, and it continues to be useful because it implies far more than Religious Education it includes the whole Catholic Special Character of the school, all of which is designed to contribute to the Religious Instruction of the students.
Determining Acceptability for an S65 (tagged) position
A S65 position is one in which the person is representing the Catholic community in a ministry role.It is the policy of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops, therefore,that the person appointed must be a Catholic who is baptised, active and in full communion with the faith community. This should be endorsed by the applicant's parish priest, ethnic chaplain or lay pastoral co-ordinator. Note that a catechumen who has reached commital stage may aslo be considered.
Section 65 (S65) positions include the Principal, the DRS and all those other tagged positions which require the successful applicant to have the willingness and ability to take part in Religious Instruction approriate to the Special Character of the school.
Here is the S65 form:dox/S65_form_2010(2).pdf
Section 66 (S66) positions makes provision for special positions which have 'tag' wording that differs from the 'tag' wording for S65 positions. In Catholic schools is applied only to the position of Deputy Principal. The 'tag' wording, which is standardised in all Catholic school Intergation Agreements, differs for Primary schools and Secondary schools
Here is the S66 form: dox/s66-form.pdf
A Brief Explanation of theS65 Requirement in the PSCIA Act
The requirement is as follows: Willingness and ability to take part in religious instruction appropriate to that school shall be a condition of appointment. (PSCI Act S65)
Willingness : Free offer and acceptance of involvement. Not coerced.
Ability : Possessing acceptable experience, qualifications and qualities, and providing evidence of these to the satisfaction of the Proprietor and the employer.
Take part in : Participate in a way or ways appropriate to the position held.
Religious Instruction : Through word or action, teaching or explaining or modelling the doctrines, valuesand practices of the Catholic faith.
Appropriate to that School : The school is a Roman Catholic School in which the whole School community through the general School programme and in its religious instruction and observances, exercises the right to live and teach the values of Jesus Christ. These values are as expressed in the Scriptures and in the practices, worship and doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, as determined from time to time by the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese.
Shall be a condition of appointment : Mandatory requirement; no exception; an integral part of the job.