Teacher strike lambasted by parent over disrupted education, schools to close

After three years of Covid disruptions and a weather-delayed start to the school year, some parents are frustrated a teacher strike next Thursday will upset learning further. Photo / Christine Cornege

After three years of Covid disruptions and a weather-delayed start to the school year, some parents are frustrated a teacher strike next Thursday will upset learning further.

Tens of thousands of educators will take industrial action after teachers’ unions New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) and Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) voted to strike this week.

Several schools already announced they would be closed come Thursday as most staff were unionised. Few said they were planning to remain open.

One parent told the Herald she was “disappointed” with the decision.

The PPTA, covering secondary and area school teachers, and the NZEI, covering primary and kindergarten teachers, said members were striking for better pay, higher staffing numbers and more school funding.

After three years of Covid disruptions and a weather-delayed start to the school year, some parents are frustrated a teacher strike next Thursday will upset learning further. Photo / Brett Phibbs

“Secondary teachers want ... pay rates and conditions to keep skilled and experienced teachers in the classroom, make secondary teaching a first choice career and encourage thousands of ex-teachers to return,” the PPTA said.

The strike decision was made after union members “overwhelmingly” rejected Ministry of Education offers.

NZEI President Mark Potter said: “The offer did little to address the concerns we have as a sector, and did not go far enough in ensuring that teaching is a valued and attractive profession.”

The rising cost of living was an issue for teachers, Potter said, but the pay offer was only part of why union members rejected the Ministry’s offer.

Staffing numbers and school and kindergarten funding remained important concerns, he said.

After three years of Covid disruptions and a weather-delayed start to the school year, some parents are frustrated a teacher strike next Thursday will upset learning further. Photo / File

“Of course, the rising cost of living plays into this, but the bigger picture is that if we are to retain and attract quality educators we must improve work conditions in the sector.”

Potter said their demands were in the interest of students.

But the parent who spoke to the Herald, who wanted to remain anonymous as her husband was a school Board of Trustees member, said she believed striking was not putting the needs of students first.

“Where are our rights as parents to say no to teacher strikes? Only a few years ago did they get very substantial increases, which was due, but perhaps we should put the needs of our children first. They need education,” she said.

“It has been a very tough three years with covid and... [after the Auckland Anniversary Weekend flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle] our children have lost out on valuable teaching time at school.

After three years of Covid disruptions and a weather-delayed start to the school year, some parents are frustrated a teacher strike next Thursday will upset learning further. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“Then there was a half-day union meeting day, teacher only day and now yet again a teacher strike day,” she said.

“When will our children get to have a proper stable education?”

She said her 10-year-old son “cannot write a sentence” because he had a “massive gap in his education” from the intermittent disruptions.

“Teachers are overwhelmed with behaviour-related issues, anxieties and learning problems in children, so they continue to let the children do what is easy because it [the disruption] has been tough,” she said.

“Now I have a child that cannot and will not write. And another with anxieties and fears.

“As a parent, I vote that teachers strike on their teacher-only day, as there have been too many interruptions to our children’s education.”