With students being rostered home between now and the end of the term, here are some clarifications and guidelines around how they can continue their learning.

The intention behind rostering home is that PPTA members are signaling that they are not engaging in teaching the specified year group on a particular day. Therefore, we cannot ask teachers to set new online lessons or to teach the students remotely, without breaching the strike action. However, there are a number of ways that young people can continue their studies while at home. 

Practice: If students have been learning a particular skill, they can look online to find practice activities, e.g. Maths skills, PE activities.

Review and revise: Go back through content already covered and review class notes and learning activities. This is especially important for senior students engaged in NCEA.

Read: For junior students, any reading is a way to build up reading mileage and comprehension skills. Read novels, non-fiction books, comics, news articles, etc. Stock up on reading material from the library. Build understanding of issues and topics by broadening your reading horizons beyond the texts provided by your teacher. 

Education Perfect: (Or other online tools) Many learning areas place lessons and practice activities on Education Perfect. Get online and get involved.

Complete practice assessment activities: The NZQA website has past assessment activities and exam questions for all NCEA subjects. Visit www.nzqa.govt.nz , click on 'NCEA', 'Subjects' and then select from the subject list. 

Follow guidance and advice from teachers: When you next have a class, make sure you take note of your teacher's instructions around work priorities and where to find resources. 

I completely understand that the strike action may be frustrating. Whatever your thoughts are on this, I can assure you that the staffing crisis in secondary schools is real. We have recently lost good teachers who are choosing to leave the profession and we are seeing fewer people apply for advertised positions than in the past. If you would like to express your thoughts on this, I encourage you to make contact with your local member of parliament or the Minister of Education Jan Tinetti.  

Thank you for your understanding and support.