They are as much social worker as they are actual teacher.
The crisis that grips education in this country in many respects reflects the broader malaise we currently find ourselves in.
Excellence, achievement and continual improvement are rarely, if ever, talked of any more.
The fact such a large proportion of kids don’t even turn up anymore seems more the norm than it does an emergency.
If you have the time, it is worth watching Parliament when it’s in session.
National’s Erica Stanford makes mincemeat of Education Minister Jan Tinetti on a regular basis.
Tinetti, astonishingly, seems an apologist for all that’s wrong with education currently.
The shocking results in literacy and numeracy, and our continual slide on an international scale, seems not to have registered with the minister as the embarrassment it is.
In the meantime, the teachers are unhappy and off work again.
The answer is there: performance-based pay. They just don’t want it.
Most union-based jobs face the same predicament: it’s always about money, it’s never enough, and they are trapped in a never-ending cycle of disgruntlement.
The previous National government, in the early part of their term, gave serious consideration to performance-based pay, but after the storm of fury that erupted over the prospect, they backed out and so nothing changed.
The problem is simple.
When you have thousands of people on the same deal, no matter what the deal is, adjusting it costs a fortune, so it’s never adjusted by much.
The claim is made, the claim is rejected, we have the obligatory back and forth, a few threats are made, a bit of tension grows, you end up with a burst of strike action, the placards and chanting appear on the news.
The unions say it’s not fair, the employer (often the government) say they are being generous and/or there is no more money. You might get a bit more industrial action and eventually some sort of deal is settled.
But it’s a Band-Aid, so around and around we go.
The best of teachers deserve so much more than they get ... not just monetarily, but in respect as well.
But if your criteria for income is nothing more than time in a classroom, it’s a mechanism that will never work.
And to make it worse, the only way to boost your income beyond what is mandated is to leave the classroom and become management. And how many magical teachers aren’t actually in the classroom because they took that route?
Education Minister Jan Tinetti. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Having watched five children make their way through the New Zealand education system, I feel, like a lot of parents, that I have a good insight into this situation.
We have attended public, private, co-ed, single sex and integrated - they all have their strengths and weaknesses.
We all know, like most students know, who the good teachers are, we all know and see the dedicated ones and the ones who are worn down or were never that gifted.
Unlike many professions where talent and performance is rewarded, the unions have decided teaching is different.
And many teachers seem satisfied to adhere to the model.
And if you are happy with the way things are, that’s fine.
But that’s the point isn’t it? They aren’t happy, and that’s why yet again the kids stay home.
None of this is new, this is decades-old. Teachers, like nurses, like any other unionised profession, have never been happy, never been satisfied, never felt properly treated or rewarded.
So one can conclude that the system they adhere to isn’t really a satisfactory one.
Which would lead you to ask why do they keep sticking with a model that clearly doesn’t work or bring any real level of success or satisfaction?
It’s a long time in a career where you don’t feel valued or respected.
And it’s a certain kind of madness to keep the same approach, when it doesn’t solve your problem.
And it requires a certain level of selfishness to keep kids at home in an already desperately troubled system while you vent your frustrations.
