1. The aims of the Native
English Speaking Teachers’ Association (NESTA)
are:
(a) To provide Native English Speaking
Teachers with professional and personal support in order to help them
to fulfill their duties effectively and enjoy the experience of living
and working in Hong Kong.
(b) To offer support and advice to the
Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) and to schools in order to help
them to recruit, provide induction and deploy Native English Teachers
(NETs) as effectively as possible.
(c) To promote and enhance high standards
of English language teaching in Hong Kong.
(d) To arrange social meetings for the
benefit of members.
The society shall not be affiliated with any other professional body
and shall not be political in nature.
2. NETs shall be eligible
to become members of NESTA subject to payment of a membership fee, which
shall be determined by a vote at a general meeting. Their partners may
become associate members but shall not be allowed to vote at meetings.
3. Members of NESTA shall
be allowed to vote at its meetings. A motion shall be carried if it
is voted for by a simple majority of the members present at a meeting,
provided that members have been informed that such a meeting is taking
place at least a week in advance and that at least 25 members are present
at the meeting.
(a) The Committee should meet at least
monthly, prior to the formation of the agenda. Non-attendance, without
apologies, at two consecutive meetings means the committee member forfeits
their position on the committee and a vacancy should be advertised.
(b) The Committee can deal with emergencies,
if it has a quorum of at least 4 members. However, they cannot allocate
monies, other than those needed for normal running expenses, or volunteer
the services of NESTA members without such issues being published in
the agenda, prior to the NESTA monthly meeting and a vote being carried
at that meeting.
4. Members of NESTA shall
elect an Executive Committee at an Annual General Meeting provided that
the notification and quorum requirements set out in Paragraph 3 (above)
have been met.
5. The Committee shall
consist of a Chairperson, a Treasurer, a Secretary, an EMB Liaison Officer
to deal with Primary School issues, an EMB Liaison Officer to deal with
Secondary School issues, a Representative from the Advisory Teaching
Team, and at least two other members, of whom at least one shall be
a NET teaching in a primary school.
6. The Chairperson shall:
(a) Chair general meetings and committee
meetings and be responsible for maintaining order at meetings.
(b) Be responsible for the execution of
motions, which have been carried by the association.
7. The Treasurer shall:
(a) Be responsible for the collection of
membership fees and other monies from members.
(b) Issue money from the association funds
to cover expenses incurred by committee members in the exercise of their
duties when the committee has agreed these expenses should be met by
the association, and keep receipts thereof.
(c) Keep a true and faithful record of
the accounts of NESTA and give a report on those accounts at an annual
general meeting.
(d) Organise to have accounts audited and
presented at the Annual General Meeting.
8. The Secretary shall:
(a) Keep minutes of all meetings, which
will be published in summary, in the NESTA newsletter. (NESTA NEWS)
(b) Be responsible for informing members
about future meetings at least a week before they take place.
(c) Be responsible for all correspondence
which will be incorporated into agendas and be tabled / read at the
meetings after the minutes of the previous meeting have been accepted.
(d) Prepare the agenda for general meetings
and publish this in advance in the NESTA NEWS. Members may contact the
secretary to add any agenda items prior to their publication or they
may be dealt with under the item ‘Any Other Business’ at
the meeting.
9. The EMB Liaison Officers
shall:
(a) Act as a link person between the EMB,
the NESTA Committee and the membership of NESTA. This involves communicating
information from the EMB to NESTA and vice versa, arranging meetings
with the EMB and communicating dates and times to committee members.
(b) Prepare a written account of meetings
with and information from the EMB for the newsletter and present a verbal
account at monthly meetings.
(c) In cases where individual members have
not reached satisfactory agreement in their dealings with EMB or their
individual schools, to take up the case on their behalf with EMB in
an attempt to achieve a positive resolution.
(d) Attend NESTA committee and general
meetings.
10. The terms of this
constitution may be changed by a simple majority vote of members at
a general meeting if the conditions set out in paragraph 3 (above) have
been met and if the motion has been announced at least one month in
advance at a preceding general meeting.
