Striking teachers at Wellington Railway Station. Photo: RNZ/ John Gerritsen
Thousands of secondary school teachers are striking on Wednesday, over stalled collective agreement negotiations.
The action has forced many high schools to close.
The Post Primary Teachers' Association says the government's offer of a 1 percent pay rise every year for three years is the lowest in a generation.
Higher salaries were needed to attract and retain teachers, especially amid NCEA reforms, the union said.
Chris Abercrombie Photo: Supplied
PPTA president Chris Abercrombie who is on a picket line outside Education Minister Erica Stanford's electorate office on the North Shore in Auckland said teachers were disappointed they had to go on strike.
It could have been avoided if the government had made a sensible offer.
Bargaining had continued yesterday and while there were "fruitful discussions" no new offer was presented.
There was some "shared understanding" on key issues including on support needed for teachers around curriculum changes.
"If we had an offer we could have given to members we would have absolutely called off the strike. ... Unfortunately that didn't happen."
Abercrombie was still hopeful that more industrial action including rostered days off for students could be avoided.
If the government wanted to "move the needle" it should increase its offer when talks resumed next week.
Public Service Minister Judith Collins has called the strike a "political stunt" and accused the PPTA of not being genuinely engaged in the bargaining process.
Stanford said walking away from the bargaining table after six days was "deeply unfair" for parents and students.
"When you look at the PPTA's very slick marketing campaign around these strikes, it does have an air of premeditation."
Subash Chandar K says teachers love being in the classroom but they also have a lot of extra demands piled onto them. Photo: Supplied
'Frustration starting to kick in'
Collins has apologised and said she mixed up her messaging after earlier claiming high school teachers with 10 years experience could earn $147,000.
You can read RNZ's full explainer on how much teachers really earn here.
One of the teachers baffled by Collins' initial claim was Kiwibank's Local Hero of the Year, maths educator Subash Chandar K, also known as Infinity Plus One.
He told First Up he was earning $103,000 and wondered if he was being "short-changed".
Chandar believed Collins might have been referring to principals or associate principals with at least 10 years' experience. One of his colleagues reviewed 1006 teaching jobs being advertised and found only two would have attracted a salary of more than $140,000, Chandar said.
It was frustrating to know that backbench MPs were on salaries of $163,000, he said.
He described days beginning at 8am and ending with department or staff meetings plus meetings with families.
"Our students are so much more diverse now in terms of their learning and we need to support these students and sometimes we need to meet with whanau to come up with plans for the best ways to support them."
As well, there was work to take home to mark and parent/teacher meetings at night.
On top of that, were school camps and extra curricular activities such as kapa haka.
Teachers were also adjusting to curriculum changes.
"Most teachers love being in the classroom ... but it's all these extra things that are added on that is actually devaluing what we're doing."
Extra things were being piled onto teachers but the pay was being kept at the same level.
"That's where the frustration is starting to kick in."
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