About 1900 protesters attended the teachers' strike rally at Tauranga Racecourse. Photo / Andrew Warner
About 1900 protesters attended the teachers' strike rally at Tauranga Racecourse. Photo / Andrew Warner
Teachers and principals from Western Bay of Plenty schools joined nationwide strike action last week.
Approximately 50,000 teachers colleagues took part in the strike on Thursday.
Teachers in the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA), and New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) held events around the country. The PPTA (secondary and area school teachers) and NZEI (primary and kindergarten teachers) said members were striking for better pay, higher staffing numbers and more school funding.
The Western Bay of Plenty event was held at Tauranga Racecourse, and approximately 1900 strikers attended before heading to various picket sites across the city, including outside Education Minister Jan Tinetti’s Tauranga office.
Staff from Katikati Primary School attended the rally. Principal Andrea Nicholson says the funding for schools is not enough to give them the time they need to support all children to thrive.
“Primary schools have been heavily underfunded for a very long period of time. With the increased needs of our children due to high levels of trauma and time off school over the Covid-19 outbreak, our schools need better funding and much higher levels of staffing to provide our children with the education they deserve.
“We can’t afford to keep losing high-quality and experienced staff members who are leaving the profession because they don’t have the time, resources and support that they need to do their job.”
Protesters went off to various picket sites after the rally. Photo / Megan Wilson
Waihī Beach School staff marched through Waihī Beach village before heading for Waihī to protest with teachers from other schools on a roundabout in the centre of town.
Waihī Beach School principal Rachael Coll says the country needs amazing schools, teachers and principals.
“We are not going to have those if the pay and conditions aren’t a bit closer to being amazing too.”
She also spoke out for principals.
‘’We are reaching a crisis point in principalship – where few amazing people want to do the job.’’
Rachael says she works in excess of 60 hours each week during the term to undertake all the jobs and responsibilities that fall on a principal.
‘’We care deeply for our tamariki [children] and work so hard in increasingly difficult conditions to make a difference, but as much as we fight for our kids, there is not enough support for the diverse needs of the children in our schools.”
Jan — a former principal of Merivale School principal in Tauranga — told protesters at Parliament she had been in their shoes, and that she acknowledged parts of the system were “completely broken”.
“I know that we have to do better and I commit to you that we will do better. I have stood out there right where you are now and I have protested. I have also been a teacher and a principal ... I absolutely know and value the work that you do.”
- Additional reporting Emma Houpt and Megan Wilson
