Teachers still plan to strike this week despite two days at the bargaining table with the Ministry of Education.

The teaching programme, which recognises the contribution of gay people in history, was created in an effort to stamp out homophobic bullying.

If you tell children they're failures, they tend not to disappoint you.

The Ministry of Education is contacting the trustees of every primary and intermediate school to ask about their stance on National Standards.

Two education researchers are supporting a boycott of the Government's mandatory national standards by 225 primary school boards.

Phil Goff says the "untested" National Standards system the Govt is trying to push through won't succeed and should be delayed.

More than 200 schools are refusing to introduce part of the Government's mandatory national standards next year after voting "no confidence" in the system.

There is no new money to offer teachers a bigger pay increase unless they wanted to burden their students with a future of paying off national debt, says Prime Minister John Key.

The Ministry of Education says it will not dock the pay of secondary teachers striking this week as a show of good faith.

Anne Tolley says secondary school teachers striking over pay and conditions need to wake up to the economic reality of their situation.