Covid 19 Delta outbreak: Kiwis offer to help ease the load of vaccinated teachers

School will be a different place for returning students and staff this week. Photo / Michael Craig

New Zealanders have taken to social media to put out offers of help to teachers coping with heavier workloads left by other teachers choosing not to get the Covid vaccine.

Today, the vaccine mandate came into effect for teachers in New Zealand, as children in Auckland and the Waikato prepare to return to school this week.

As of today, teachers nationwide will have to have at least their first Pfizer vaccine - or they will not be allowed to enter childcare centres or school grounds from tomorrow.

Worrying about the pressure this will put on vaccinated teachers, Kiwis are offering to volunteer some time having Zoom calls with children to talk them through their areas of expertise.

The idea behind it is that they will be able to give vaccinated teachers a break from the heavier workload.

Dozens of Twitter users have so far offered their time to discuss issues they are passionate about with the students, in order to give teachers a much-needed break.

If you are a teacher in NZ & tomorrow find yourself with a greater workload due to some of your colleagues being absent, flick me a message & I am happy to try to organise to video call your class to talk about freshwater, why it’s important & what you can do if that would help.

— Dr Katie Collins (@ktecollins) November 14, 2021

If you're a teacher in NZ, and would like to set up a video chat with an author for your class, feel free to flick me a message at any time.

— Charity Norman (@CharityNorman1) November 14, 2021

If you’re a teacher in NZ & find yourself with a greater workload due to some of your colleagues being absent, flick me a message & I am happy to try to organise to video call your class to talk about being a pastry chef, or I cld host a live doggy morning tea… pic.twitter.com/IhD3b4jMAh

— Bounder (@DawgBelly) November 14, 2021

If you are a teacher in NZ and find yourself with a greater workload due to some of your colleagues being absent, flick me a message and I am happy to try to organise to video call your class to talk about museums, how objects end up in them and why that's complicated

— Callie V(accinated), PhD (she/her) (@CallistaV) November 14, 2021

If you are a teacher in NZ and tomorrow find yourself with a greater workload due to some of your colleagues being absent, flick me a message and I am happy to try to organise to video call your class to talk about plants/birds/wildlife if that would help.

— Taylor Davies-Colley (@TayTalksTrees) November 14, 2021

Other Twitter users applauded the initiative and the offers of help and reminded vaccinated teachers that they are doing an important job.

If you're a teacher in NZ & find yourself with a greater workload due to some colleagues being absent just know that you're an awesome human for putting the health & welfare of your students before any personal feelings you may have about getting vaccinated.
Kia kaha kaiako! 🤜🤛

— Nick (@StrayDogNZ) November 15, 2021

I'm loving the "if you're a teacher" energy. Let's maintain it because our kaiako and tauira all need more experts coming in and sharing their experience

— Pip Te Hira-Mataita🌺🇼🇸🇳🇿🇨🇰 (@pip_tehira) November 14, 2021

The "no jab no job" mandate for teachers came into effect today. There are no official numbers on how many schools are affected by absent teachers because of the mandate.