Difficult Conversations: What's your view on teachers' strikes?
Thursday, 15 June 2023
Stuff’s Difficult Conversations is a safe space for Aotearoa to constructively discuss topics which can be polarising but still deserve reasoned debate and dialogue. These are stories that we often don’t open for comments, because of the high volume of posts that breach our rules for participation. We hope that providing a specific platform for a finite period of time will allow for important debate and different points of view, without the open slather of social media and the risk of discussions being hijacked by extreme views.
Friday’s topic was the teachers' strikes. Comments have now closed, but if you have more to say on the topic, we want you to write about your experience.
We're looking for submissions of between 400-800 words to be published in Stuff Nation. To share your perspective on the secondary teachers' strikes, hit the contribute button via this link, or email stuffnation@stuff.co.nz. Please attach photos of yourself for the best chance of your submission being published.
Secondary school teachers across New Zealand want better pay and working conditions.
Despite continued strikes, and almost a year of negotiations with the Government, the PPTA (Post Primary Teachers’ Association) Te Wehengarua is yet to receive an offer it is satisfied with.
High school teachers have voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest pay offer and have announced more strike action.
So the strikes continue, and so do the headaches they are causing for teachers, students, parents, and the Government.
**READ MORE:
* Parents frustrated over teachers strikes, 'total nightmare' school year
* Bargaining to resume for secondary schools as teacher strikes ramp up
* Hundreds of principals could leave the profession within years, survey says
* Take 5: Key questions about the secondary teachers strike answered
**
Parents are frustrated by the “total nightmare” of a school year as strikes impact their teenagers’ education. Some students are stressed and missing out on teaching time. Secondary teachers share parents’ frustration about the length of negotiations.
Meanwhile, primary school teachers accepted an offer earlier this month following their own series of strikes.
The context
Teachers have been striking since March 16 to demand better pay and working conditions.
Since then, secondary teachers have held rolling national and year level strikes to communicate their frustration with the Ministry of Education’s pay offers.
Teachers will continue to strike for the remainder of term two, impacting all year groups at different times.
The arguments
From the outset of negotiations The PPTA has said teachers need a pay increase that matches inflation.
It also wants some improvements to staffing and other conditions to enable teachers to concentrate on teaching and learning.
Some parents are becoming fed up, and think students’ education shouldn’t suffer in the teachers’ fight for a better offer. Parents have expressed increasing frustrations about constant days off – off the back of Covid-19 lockdowns and weather disruptions.
Some students are stressed and missing out on teaching time. Assessments have been delayed and some of the syllabus has been cut.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he was “frustrated” by the strike action taken and encouraged the union to get back to bargaining. The Government's position is that a good offer is on the table for secondary school teachers.
By the numbers
The Ministry of Education website says the starting base salary scale for trained secondary teachers is between $51,358 – $61,794, and the top of the base salary scale is between $85,490 – $90,000.
The latest pay offer to secondary teachers included a lump sum payment of $4500 for union members and three pay rises by December 2024, totalling between 11% and 18%.
Secondary teachers have not received a pay rise in two years, coinciding with a time of near-record inflation.
A new survey shows hundreds of primary school principals could soon quit the profession. Almost a third of respondents to the NZEI Te Riu Roa (NZEI) survey say they want to leave the job within the next two years.10% of those surveyed signalled they might quit in the next 12 months.
The strikes have involved about 20,000 secondary teachers nationwide, who are members of the PPTA.
CLARIFICATION: The maximum salary scale in this story was updated to reflect it being a base salary scale. The top range of the pay rise offered has been edited from 15.5% to 18%. (Amended: April 16, 2023, 2.07pm).