Linda Stewart says her 6-year-old daughter Eliana's education will not be disrupted by today's strike because she will learn a lesson about fairness. Photo / Dean Purcell
Linda Stewart says her 6-year-old daughter Eliana's education will not be disrupted by today's strike because she will learn a lesson about fairness. Photo / Dean Purcell
Opinion
COMMENT: Onehunga mother Linda Stewart responds to Ministry of Education deputy secretary Ellen MacGregor-Reid's statements that the teachers' strike would "disrupt" children's education and "inconvenience" parents.
Dear Ms MacGregor-Reid,
Thank you for the concern you expressed for parents in the New Zealand Herald article dated May 26, 2019,regarding the upcoming teachers' strike. I appreciate that you are concerned that children's learning will be disrupted and families and employers will be not only inconvenienced, but significantly inconvenienced, by the planned strike action.
I have a somewhat different view of the strike action. My child's learning is not going to be disrupted nor do I view her day off school, while her underpaid, overworked teachers strike, as an inconvenience.
On the day of the strike my daughter will continue to learn as she does every day.
She is going to learn lots of new words when she reads the signs. I'm looking forward to explaining those to her.
She asks a lot of questions and I am going to be answering them.
She is going to learn that fairness goes beyond sharing toys and cutting the cake into equal pieces.
I'm pretty sure there is a classroom-worthy lesson in there somewhere.
It's a pity that the same level of concern is not being shown for the disruptions to learning that are happening in our schools every day.
The disruptions to learning for the children with additional needs and their classmates because they aren't getting the support they require to succeed.
The disruptions for the children who are farmed out to other classes because their teacher is away sick and there are no relievers.
The disruptions for the children who have no permanent teacher and are faced with constantly changing relievers.
The disruptions to the personal lives of our teachers. These are disruptions worthy of concern.
Ellen MacGregor-Reid, Ministry of Education Deputy Secretary Early Learning and Student Achievement. Photo / Supplied
Running out of coffee is a bigger inconvenience to me than the strike. There are some things I am inconvenienced by though. I am inconvenienced by the lack of funding for support staff in our schools.
I am inconvenienced by the teacher shortage.
I am inconvenienced by our education system breaking down.
I am inconvenienced by our teachers breaking down.
And I am going to be significantly inconvenienced when in five or 10 years' time the best of our current teachers are no longer in our schools. The whole country is going to be inconvenienced by that.
I can't give an employer's perspective as I'm not one. But I will say that a day of inconvenience doesn't seem a very high price to pay to ensure that future employees are given the best education and chance of success possible.
Onehunga mother Linda Stewart (left), who has written an open letter supporting the teachers' strike, with her husband Glenn Stewart and their daughter Eliana Stewart, aged 6. Photo / Supplied
I suspect that the people who are going to be most inconvenienced by the strike will be the teachers themselves when they receive their next pay packet and it's short a whole day's pay, especially when most of them have still put in a full 40 hours or more.
I agree with you that the strike is not a solution. What the Government is offering is not a solution either. It is the equivalent of putting a sticking plaster on a broken leg. A solution would be improving the offer that has been made to teachers.
I hope your concerns about learning, families and employers on the day of the strike have been eased. Please feel free to join "I Back The Teachers" on Facebook where the wider community is getting behind our amazing teachers.
It's time for us all to focus on solutions to improve the learning conditions for our children and the working conditions for our teachers.
