Editorial: Time to listen to the teachers

Linda Hall

In just over a week teachers are set to strike in what's expected to be the biggest ever stand taken by the educators of our children.

It will affect thousands of families across the country as working parents scramble to find babysitters or take the day off work.

To be fair, teachers have given plenty of notice.

Support for teachers appears to be split with some people agreeing that they need more money and more importantly better conditions while others think they should stop with all the disruption and get on with their job.

We already know there is a shortage of teachers which puts immense pressure on those still standing in front of classrooms.

Classrooms that have increased in size and stress levels.

It was reported in the NZ Herald on Monday that it wasn't unusual for teachers to see their colleagues in tears as they tried to cope with workloads.

A junior teacher with three years' experience wrote a dairy for one day at school.
Her day started at 7.30am when she arrived at school.

Her last entry was 10pm when she closed her laptop after finishing some education plans for under achieving boys.

In between all this the teacher had to find time for her own three children.

I've heard the arguments about teachers having lots of holidays — with a workload like that you would need it.

It's totally unreasonable to expect anyone to work those hours however, these teachers do it because if they don't they know they will be letting down their students.

We need to remember as parents and grandparents that we drop our children off with these very teachers trusting that they will be learning and that they will be safe.

Ask yourself if you would advice your child to become a teacher. Not that long ago it was considered a great choice. Not these days.

Around 50,000 primary and secondary teachers will be making themselves heard on May 29.

They deserve to be listened to. It's time for the government to come up with a solution.