Secondary school teachers protest in Kaitaia yesterday, in the hope of gaining more resources and better pay.
Secondary school teachers protest in Kaitaia yesterday, in the hope of gaining more resources and better pay.
More than 100 Far North teachers held their second strike in two weeks yesterday over the Government’s latest offer to settle collective pay agreements.
Secondary and area school teachers from around the country took to the streets asking for more resources and an increase in pay, with protests also in Kaitaia and Cable Bay.
Teachers stood with placards between 9am-10am voicing their frustration over the current situation, with passersby tooting in support.
Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua Upper Northland representative and special needs secondary teacher, Meredydd Barrar, said he’d been teaching in the Far North for seven years.
He said he knew of one 83-year-old retired teacher recently coming out of retirement to work full-time, so dire was the situation.
Special needs secondary teacher, Meredydd Barrar, says it would pay for Prime Minister Hipkins to listen to teachers in an election year.
“We’re only asking for a 7 per cent pay increase, which if you factor in inflation, it’s closer to 3 per cent,” Barrar said.
“We really need the extra resources like school counselling and relievers to allow teachers to do their jobs to the best of their ability.
“I’d like to send a clear message to Mr Hipkins that 150,000 teachers actually vote, which could determine the outcome of the next election, so he’d do well to listen to our voices.”
Te Reo Māori teachers Dennis Waipouri and Rewa Pirini (also PPTA branch chair) explained, as Māori, being a teacher in Kaitaia went beyond the scope of what the role entailed.
They said having worked in city schools, Northland often felt like an afterthought for the Government.
“I was striking back in 2019 because there weren’t enough young, male Māori teachers and I still feel people don’t give this stressful job enough mana or recognition,” Waipouri said.
“Coming home from living in Hamilton, you really notice how much we miss out on here.
“We need to make it more attractive to bring people in to stay because we’re not just the teacher, we’re the aunties, uncles, counsellors, etc.”
Pirini said the isolation of the Far North also made it difficult for teachers to attend medical or other appointments for themselves or their whānau.
“We go over and beyond in our duties, but that’s in our nature and culture as Māori,” she said.
“Going for an appointment in the city might only take an hour, but here because you have to travel, it might take you the whole day.”
The cost of inflation was another important factor teachers were struggling with said secondary teacher Aaron McCloy of Taipa.
McCloy has lived in the Far North for 20 years and claimed he and others had been forced to take on a second job to make ends meet.
“People are struggling to pay their rates and mortgages and I know of some teachers renting out their house in summer because their income doesn’t match their cost of living,” McCloy said.
“I run my own business, Far North Tropicals, which I do when I get home and on the weekends - without it, I wouldn’t be able to pay my mortgage.”
McCloy said ballooning class sizes and a lack of resources also meant children were not getting the attention or support they required.
“I was just talking to a teacher from another school who was having to supervise 15 extra students in their class because they couldn’t find teachers to fill their jobs,” he said.
“The students really matter and they’re not getting a good deal, so that’s why we’re here today because we know they’re not getting what they need.”
According to PPTA Te Wehengarua, members voted in an electronic ballot last week to hold the one-day national strike yesterday.
On the first day of the next school term (April 24), members voted to not attend meetings outside school hours and in the second week of the next term, would plan to roster different year levels of students home on various days for four weeks.
Finally, in the third week of Term 2, (the week beginning May 8) members would hold rolling strikes, with teachers striking on different days in different regions.
PPTA Te Wehengarua Upper Northland regional chair Bindy Gummer said all teachers she knew of were at breaking point and were actively being recruited by Australia.
“We’re here to invest in teachers and students, there are just not enough resources being put into the schools for qualified specialist subjects like maths, science, Te Reo Māori,” Gummer said.
“That’s why we’re losing teachers overseas.
Secondary teachers protesting at Cable Bay on Wednesday.
“We’ve also got students struggling with mental health issues.
“New Zealand has the highest rates of youth suicide, so we need more counsellors in schools to help students before they get to that point.”
PPTA Te Wehengarua acting president, Chris Abercrombie, said the organisation and the Ministry of Education had been in mediation over the last week.
He said his members were serious about getting a new collective agreement with salaries and conditions that would “stem the worsening secondary teacher shortage throughout the motu (country)”.
Mark Williamson, general manager for Employment Relations said the only way forward was through facilitated bargaining with the help of the Employment Relations Authority (ERA).
“This is the best approach to progress to settlement. Facilitated bargaining provides for an independent view of the issues to support resolution of the dispute,” Williamson said.
“The ERA will advise us when facilitated bargaining will take place and preparations are already under way so that negotiations can proceed as quickly as possible when facilitated bargaining commences.”
Williamson added recent data indicated that nationally, secondary teacher supply was expected to be more or less in line with demand this year.
He said the retention of secondary teaching staff currently reflected pre-Covid levels but acknowledged regional variations and some subject areas where the supply of teachers was more challenging.
