Let’s be completely honest – all that is being asked for and all that is being offered are band-aids to haemorrhaging problems in education.
Teachers deserve 4 day weeks + more pay + extra resources + a teacher’s aid in each class + provide bonded scholarships with accomodation for new teachers!
Teachers work miracles with our kids, there are few silver bullets in social policy, education is one of them.
We need to nurture an education environment that respects Teachers and resources them properly because our Schools are central hubs within our community that can and must be utilised and supported more.
That takes far more money, that takes a Government with the courage to tax the fucking rich more so that excellent public education continues to be the egalitarian pillar of New Zealand.
Striking for band aids that don’t go anywhere towards the required solutions seems so limited and shallow.
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Rare is the day when all three main branches of teachers take action together–they should have done it years ago, but the various unions as in health, liked to guard their own dung heaps.
Teachers have a lot to contend with including younger members who need to learn the traditional strong union focus, to deal with privatisation and Charters, class room chaos from diverse and special needs pupils, COVID fall out including attendance, NCEA and curriculum issues.
Martyn is right the wealthier and corporates have to be hit hard via the tax system to have any chance of redressing all the teachers needs.
All people and businesses should pay their fair share of taxes.A windfall tax should be paid if there is an unexpected factor that favours a business . CGT should be paid on gains made by selling a house within 2 years of purchase. All of these taxes will not be enough if the government in power wastes the money on schemes that are not essential or unnecessarily over spect with consultant feed back.
Home school ing is not rewarding and not working.
I’m triggered by all this sign waving and loud fist waving. I don’t feel included. Couldn’t the teachers do their protest on the zoom online, it would be less confrontational and safer because of the distancing.
The problem is the woke infested Ministry of Education and the Teaching Council. If the unions deal directly with the government there is less of a problem.
One reason why teachers don’t get a lot of sympathy is that most people get 3weeks holiday and teachers get 13 weeks holiday and they appear to have a pretty short working day. But probably the biggest reason is that by the time someone leaves school they have likely come into contact with fifty teachers and feel only one or two did a good job for them.
You have no idea what you are talking about. For starters teachers work four ten week terms. That only leaves 12 not 13 weeks of supposed holidays. Schools can and do call back teachers for 10 days of these so called holidays for professional development. Teachers also use these so called holidays to plan for the following term or mark assignments, or set up their classrooms. As for the short days try starting at 7.30 and finishing at 5 at the earliest because of pointless meetings and then go home to do another two hours of work planning for the next day or following up on a parent request.
I stand corrected. 12 weeks not 13 weeks and another 10 days for ‘professional development’ it’s only an unfathomable 10 weeks holidays. And apparently, they spend a lot of time making lesson plans. So they make their lesson plans one year and use them for the next 5 years or more.
“try starting at 7.30 and finishing at 5”. Well yes I do that every day and often longer just like other people who work. Also, don’t forget teaching is a vocation which has its own rewards unlike say being bored in a factory 5 or 6 days a week for 8-10 hours.
Rubbish Joseph. You have to keep innovating and adjusting your lesson plans. You can’t use the same ones for five years. Every class is different. You really have no idea!
It is said that every minute spent in the presence of one of these messiahes improves life outcomes, yet we have some of the worst school bullying statistics in the OECD, (closely associated with our appalling youth suicide rates). The teachers claim this is the parents/wider community’s fault, despite the fact that they bully each relentlessly too. It’s been estimated that at any given time 28,000 children are on “kiwi” (illegal) suspensions, but we don’t really know because, like bullying, we refuse to keep such figures. This is done to protect the school’s reputation by removing the more troublesome, less deserving students, because there’s gold in them there foreign student markets. Close to five billion worth actually, well worth full page newspaper advertisements. They now claim to be below minimum wage, yet I know of no minimum wage worker who annully swans off to Paris, during term time, because Paris is beautiful that time of year. Or indulges in “charity” tourism, getting their photo taken with countless third world children so they can plaster them all over their facebook page, because, you know, they care so deeply for the little children. We need a far more critical eye on this sector than this mindless praise fest. How about an annual “school damage” report. Or at least an honest look.
What a load of Horses***. Teachers already have generous work hours with all the holidays. Only made easier with technological developments in the last 10 years. Personally, I think a lot of our current teachers are crap (I finished school 8 years ago). Paying all teachers, the same salary doesn’t attract quality people to the roles. I would increase the pay but have significant performance requirements attached to attendance, numeracy and literacy scores. Another thought and no brainer is that salaries should be weighted by region based on average house prices in said region. The idea of bonding and free accommodation for new young teachers is a fantastic idea though, we should also include an amortisation of teacher’s student loans if they work 10 years in NZ post qualification.
The teachers strike deserves nothing but derision. They earn in the top third of teachers in the OECD and our education system is failing, in part due to the attitude of the teachers themselves.
It can be seen how teachers powers to control the attention of the minds of wayward children and teenagers is made difficult because of the unreal disruptions to learning prevalent now. Rich people now internally raise themselves to the state of lords and ladies being served by lower and poorer employees. As it used to be in the old days.
When do boys learn some values and self respect and respect for others when they are cotton-woolled like this? Men need to learn respect and self-control and values by the time they are 14 – no wonder we have declining everything. There is no balance and restraint and generosity of spirit, just competition and striving to be top or win, endless laws to comply with instead of internal values, and punitive fines for relatively minor offences. And take this as read for the females and in-betweens. That doesn’t set an example for civilised, kindly and practical adults who know how to live, and enjoy themselves without going OTT.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/486166/teacher-censured-after-asking-students-to-apprehend-egg-throwing-intruders
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