Teachers in BoP to strike, demand better pay and support

PPTA Western Bay of Plenty regional chairwoman Julie Secker says the profession needs to keep highly skilled and experienced teachers in the classroom. Photo / Alex Cairns

Hundreds of secondary teachers in the Bay of Plenty will strike on Wednesday in response to the Government’s offer for settlement of their collective agreement negotiations.

The Government offered a 1% pay rise in collective agreement negotiations, an offer the Post Primary Teachers’ Association Te Wehengarua (PPTA) said was the “lowest in a generation”.

Striking Tauranga teachers will meet at Red Square in the city centre at 9am and will march to Cameron Rd until 10.30am.

In Rotorua, teachers will meet outside Rotorua Boys’ High School at Pukuatua St and Old Taupō Rd, and at the Tarawera and Te Ngae Rd roundabout.

In Whakatāne, teachers will strike at the intersection of Gorge Rd and Goulstone Rd and at the roundabout at the entrance to town by the Whakatāne Rowing Club.

PPTA Western Bay of Plenty region chairwoman Julie Secker said the decision to strike was not taken lightly.

“We would much prefer to have received a satisfactory offer from the Government which addressed the challenges we are facing.

“The Government’s offer of a 1% pay increase is the lowest in a generation and comes at the same time as teachers face the biggest changes to secondary education in a generation.

“It’s not keeping up with the rate of inflation. We’re really disappointed.”

Secker said that when they were faced with 1%, they had no choice but to strike and make a point.

Bay of Plenty PPTA regional chairperson Kim Wilson, from Rotorua, said a 1% pay rise with inflation at 2.7% was “effectively a pay cut”.

Changes to NCEA

Secker said in a time of relentless and momentous change to secondary education – such as the alterations being made to NCEA – the profession needed to be able to attract graduates and keep highly skilled and experienced teachers in the classroom.

Secker said the changes meant teachers were putting things together at the last minute and reshaping their teaching each year. “We’re expected to build the plane while we’re flying it.”

Like many who will strike on Wednesday, Secker said she would like to see the Government “put the money where their mouth is”, otherwise it would become more difficult to attract and retain teachers.

Ultimately, she said, the students were the ones impacted.

Pastoral care

Wilson said the pastoral needs of students were also not getting met, adding that deans and counsellors were overwhelmed and teachers were stretched to fill the gaps.

Secker said teachers were seeing increasing numbers of young people struggling with more complex needs, such as mental health and emotional and societal issues, that were not being met.

“Yet our claim for more pastoral care funding was completely ignored in the Government’s offer.”

Losing teachers

“We want to be in a position where we can attract the best people,” said Secker.

“Teachers give up much more than 40 hours a week, it’s really hard to convince young teachers to come into the profession and then to stay in the profession.

“Every student needs a specialist teacher in every subject.”

Wilson said the PPTA went to the Government seeking provisions that would help to retain and attract great teachers, because there was an insufficient and unsustainable secondary teacher supply.

“We are losing many teachers to better pay and conditions overseas,” she said.

“Many new teachers are leaving within their first five years, either leaving the profession completely or elsewhere for better pay and conditions.”

She said in addition, the sector had an ageing workforce that was starting to retire in large numbers and “this poses a significant issue to workforce sustainability”.

Secker said teachers don’t want to strike.

“No one wants to lose a day’s pay in these tough economic times. The fact that teachers are willing to do this shows how deeply we care about what is at stake for public education.”

The office of Education Minister Erica Stanford has been approached for comment.