2025 Teacher Institute Day

About Teacher Institute Day

Teacher Institute is a contractual work day for all Bargaining Unit 05 members and attendance is expected.

Teacher Institute Day began in the 1960s as a day for teachers to meet and work on school-related issues. In 1972, HSTA negotiated this important time into the contract to guard against it being taken away. In the early years, the Association used Teacher Institute Day to inform teachers about negotiations, lobbying, political action and grievance processing. As time progressed, HSTA introduced workshops to help teachers with their jobs and personal concerns such as retirement and health care. Teacher Institute Day is the single largest professional development day on the school calendar. It covers a variety of topics for professional and personal growth and features noteworthy keynote speakers.

In 2017, the focus of Institute Day was to inform teachers about negotiations and their contract. Thousands of teachers united and rallied and made their voices heard at the Hawaii State Capitol. As a result of strong collective action across the state that spring, the HSTA negotiated a nearly 14-percent pay hike over four years.