Tēnā koutou katoa, Mālō e lelei, Welcome to Term 2!

Teachers became teachers because they believed they could make a difference, they believed they could provide students with the skills they need to be successful and they believed their contributions to the world made a difference. These beliefs have been challenged and eroded for a number of years in New Zealand. We are now seeing many teachers who are burnt out, disillusioned and depressed because they cannot be the teachers they want to be. They no longer believe in their ability to ‘change the world’ and so they are leaving the profession, or worse, they are staying in jobs they have disengaged from, which impacts on their health and well-being, as well as student learning.

This term will be somewhat disrupted due to what is being described as the largest industrial action New Zealand has ever seen. Teachers, both primary and secondary, are standing together and striking on Wednesday 29 May. This will be followed by a series of rolling strikes on:

• Tuesday 4 June - Year 9

• Tuesday 11 June - Year 10

• Tuesday 25 June - Year 11

• Tuesday 2 July - Year 12

While I understand the frustration and inconvenience this will create for our parents/ whānau and community, I implore you to really think about why teachers are doing this. This is not just for personal gain. It isn’t just to improve the pay they receive. This is about improving their conditions of work and your child’s conditions for learning, because we believe we need to do better for the sake of our students and for the future of education.

The reality for teachers over the last ten years is that expectations have increased exponentially in a society full of many parents who are too busy to actually parent. Teachers are having to be more than teachers. They are having to be parents, referees, mentors, counselors and sometimes miracle workers. They are having to dip into their own pockets for classroom resources, to buy shoes and lunches for students and they are having to put up with some appalling treatment by students and parents. Having to endure and deal with verbal and physical abuse is becoming ‘part of the job’.

Teachers are having to work with students who come into our schools with very low foundational knowledge (e.g. do not know the grass is green), who have poor social skills (e.g. inability to communicate and cooperate), have a lack of respect and responsibility for personal actions (e.g. on manners, remorse and empathy), are unable to self-regulate without a device and are unable to acknowledge their part in a situation or incident (e.g. someone else is always to blame or at fault). On top of this there is an ever increasing number of students with high and complex learning needs who require a personalised learning approach and special assessment conditions in order to be successful.

For teachers to meet student, parent and societal expectations, schools need appropriate resourcing and we need to address this assessment driven world and the associated workload by refocusing the lens on the learning. We need our teachers to feel supported and we need to continually remind them how valued they are, because they do ignite motivation and passion, they do nurture self belief and they do positively influence and change the lives of their students.

Please take a moment to reflect on just what our teachers do for your child/ children/ tamariki and if you need reminding just look at all the amazing achievements of our students in this newsletter. Most of these opportunities and achievements would not have been possible without the dedication and commitment from the team at Katikati College.

Thank you all for your understanding and support. We will do our very best to ensure student learning outcomes are not affected.

Nāku noa na

Carolyn Pentecost

PRINCIPAL