‘The children deserve better’: Primary teachers, principals, teacher-aides, support workers to strike

Thursday, 18 September 2025

Teacher aides are striking for the first time alongside primary school teachers and principals, school support staff and Ministry of Education specialist staff over what they say is a crisis in New Zealand’s education system.

The Educational Institute (NZEI/Te Riu Roa) confirmed about 40,000 members would be going on strike on October 23 after primary school teachers rejected the Government’s latest collective agreement offer.

Holly van der Kley, a teacher aide at Rolleston College and support staff negotiation team member, said the group had received three offers that were “nowhere near meeting our needs”.

“The Government aren't listening, we're not being heard.”

The average pay for a teacher aide is $28 an hour for school terms only and they are employed on yearly contracts, with no guarantee of renewal.

“They're offering an increase of 60 cents per hour in the first year and 15c an hour in the second and 25c in the third. It's just ridiculous.”

The school support collective agreement included executive managers, librarians, library assistants, administration support staff, science technicians and teacher aides.

The group of 37,000 workers had been negotiating with the ministry since October.

Van der Kley said the number of students with complex learning and behavioural issues was growing, putting more pressure on teacher aides - but the level of need was not being met by the Government.

“The teachers are crying out for more teacher aides.”

Teachers and principals say the Government’s funding for learning support in this year’s budget did not make much difference, given the scale of the problem - and the huge expectations as a result of the curriculum changes.

Templeton Primary School principal Nick Pratt said he knew of principals who have burned out and left the profession in the past year.

“There’s significant changes that in the current climate aren’t sustainable, and principals haven’t been given the time and the resources to genuinely enact them, while still meeting the complex needs of our children.”

Principals had not received an offer after six days of negotiations, he said.

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said it was “disappointing“ NZEI members decided to strike when the offer was “a very good deal” for primary teachers.

“I’ve made it clear we are willing to talk – it’s clear NZEI’s intent the whole time has been to strike.”

The union never came back with a counter proposal, Roche said.

“I wonder if the union has told teachers there will be no back pay so the longer the strikes go on the less money teachers will get in their pockets – and their pay will be docked for the period they are on strike.”

The average salary for primary school teachers increased from about $85,000 three years ago to more than $94,000, with approximately 57% of full-time primary teachers now earning between $90,000 and $110,000, and 16% earning over $110,000.

Roche also pointed to the Government's biggest investment in learning support in a generation with an additional $2.5 billion over the next four years as part of Budget 2025.

But NZEI president Ripeka Lessels said members were convinced the Government was not listening to the needs on the ground. They were firm in wanting more support in the classroom, working with children of diverse needs.

There was still room for negotiation and time for the Government to make an offer, Lessels said.

“While the commissioner is saying it’s a fair offer, our members have stated that the money is essential, but in this case, it’s not sufficient.”

She was not aware of any communication that there would be no back pay for teachers.

Teacher of 13 years at a North Canterbury school Bridget Chilton said she voted to strike because the offer from the Government - including pay - did not recognise the increased pressures teachers face.

The offer was for flat increases of $1300 this year and $1200 in the new year – between 2.7% and 4.1% over two years for those on steps 1-8 of the pay scale. Teachers on step 9 and 10 would receive a 2.5% pay increase this year and 2.1% next year.

“You don't expect to get rich with teaching, but our wages haven't gone forward. But that's not the main reason people have said no to this offer,” Chilton said.

She said there was a desperate need for more learning support.

“There’s not a lot of support, and the support we can access has hugely long waitlists, meaning that it could take 18 months to receive support for a child who needs it.”

Chilton has a class of 50 students with another teacher and they are supported by two teacher-aides for a total of 12 hours a week. At any one time several students are on individual learning plans because they need extra help.

“We do our very best every single day and we're consistently adapting to the needs of the children, but we feel like the children deserve better.”

Conor Fraser, a speech language therapist and a member of the Ministry of Education (MOE) field staff negotiation team, said her main concerns were the overflowing workloads and inadequate staffing.

In August, specialist learning staff at the ministry rejected a 0% pay offer after going on a two-hour strike alongside Public Service Association (PSA) members in July and worked to rule for the following month. The ministry responded by docking their pay by 10%, Fraser said.

MOE field staff include speech and language therapists, early intervention teachers, occupational therapists, psychologists that provide support and strategies to teachers and care givers for children with learning and communication disorders.