In the 30 years Tina Hodgson has been a teacher her workload has tripled but the most significant pay increase she has seen is 2 per cent.
The Maungatapere School teacher is one of thousands from teachers union NZ Educational Institute (NZEI) calling for a significant pay increase of up to 14 per cent and more time to teach.
"The teaching profession is in crisis, it has been for a long time and we've been ignored by government after government. It's about being valued and our job is very very complex compared to what it used to be 30 years ago. We are sick of children missing out because teachers' workloads are huge," Ms Hodgson said.
Primary and early childhood teachers in NZEI agreed at a conference in Rotorua on Wednesday to hold paid union meetings in the first term of next year to finalise claims for what executive member Liam Rutherford described as a "seismic shift" in pay and conditions for the country's 29,000 primary teachers and principals, whose collective agreements expire in May and June next year.
When Ms Hodgson, who attended the conference, spoke to the Northern Advocate yesterdayit was her second day off in 17 days, and last week she worked two 12-hour shifts.