SCHOOL CLOSED ON THURSDAY 16TH MARCH

Teachers recognise the inconvenience our strike action places on you and your whānau, however it is vital that we redress the stagnation that has happened over the preceding years.

There are many issues that need to be addressed. Below are just a few:
(Please see the attachment to read about more issues that need to be addressed)

• Pay: There needs to be a step change in our pay levels to make our profession attractive to suitable graduates. Classroom teachers are on a ten step salary scale meaning that you could be at the top of your scale by the time you are thirty years old. We want to keep our good teachers in the classroom.

• Time to Teach: Our teachers need more time to prepare work and complete the ever growing list of requirements placed on them by the Ministry and the Teacher’s Council. Primary School teachers are time poor and this ultimately places stress on their ability to develop real quality programmes for your children. This is a parity issue! Secondary schools and their conditions allow most teachers about one day per week for administration. As primary teachers we are allocated two days per term. We need more!

• Support: Support for children with high needs. As a profession we are required and want to cater for all children in our classrooms. We are continually identifying more and complex needs and our teachers need the support and knowledge to deal with these needs. All teachers are mandated to and want to be able to meet every child’s needs, it is in our DNA, but we are not resourced with the time (see above) or the specialist training and people to make this possible.

I believe the government understands these things but they are failing to see that prioritising our children, our education system, will bring about change in many other areas such as Mental Health. 

Thank you for your ongoing support.