Hundreds of teachers and their supporters marching for better pay and conditions.
OPINION:
On Thursday morning, 50,000 teachers, principals and other education union members around the country will walk off the job.
Parents and caregivers will be left to find ways to balance childcare and work. Some will struggle, and the effects will be widespread.
But the gravity of the situation warrants the reaction, writes Zizi Sparks.
Read the full story: Zizi Sparks: Teachers’ strike sends message to put teachers first so they can put kids first.
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It’s ridiculous to compare a teacher with a surgeon undertaking life-saving surgery. Not the same by any stretch of the imagination.
Unfortunately, there are not enough good teachers out there. I am relieved my kids have now finished school. Over their time at school there were few great teachers, some average, and unfortunately, quite a few hopeless ones (usually the ones with an inflated [sense of] self-importance).
Would like to see performance measurement of teachers and great teachers rewarded well.
- Donna T
The fact is, teachers are underpaid. Just look at the police etc - what they earn with mostly no after-school expenses to study.
We need more teachers, that’s the bottom line, and we also need parents who are more involved with their children’s education, starting with getting their children to go to school. Or is that also the teachers’ and Government’s job?
- Francios N
Our education system is failing our children, is there any accountability there for teachers? Of course there is.
Teachers don’t teach in isolation and I am certainly not denying they should be paid more, but who answers for children who cannot read or write?
- Marg M
In reply to Marg M: If someone is in school and cannot read or write, maybe that child needs some special help.
- Francios N
There used to be an old adage popular in the ‘70s about forming a protest group composed of school teachers, hippies and men with beards and cardigans.
Seems to be back in vogue, doesn’t it?
- Alan P
If teachers are paid more, will it improve attendance rates?
Will more money for teachers improve the curriculum, or what the kids are taught or not taught?
Does more money for teachers improve our education system or our kids in any way?
If the answer is no, end more taxpayer dollars to teacher salaries.
- Kim B
Let’s also not forget those teacher aides who have been let go due to bulk funding of schools. Let’s consider also removing the “donation status” of school fees. School fees should be compulsory, whether by the families or Work and Income.
Those who expect a “free education” for their kids and don’t pay when they can are undermining schools and important resources for those who do pay.
Direct debits should be set up on enrollment and enforced for the good of students and schools.
- John W
“They also want more guidance staff to work with increasing numbers of rangatahi struggling with mental health and societal issues, and effective controls on workloads.”
“Teachers form young minds and guide them from a young age - in some cases from as young as six months old all the way up to 18 years old.
“Teachers are forming the future, and we should value them.”
And yet, a substantial amount of money has been spent on consultants for the Ministry of Education under PM Hipkins’ watch. What was this spending for? Accountability, please.
I, for one, do not want teachers keeping information about the children from their parents. Parents are responsible for their children, not teachers or bureaucrats or Government-funded service providers “forming their young minds”.
We just want teachers to impart knowledge to our children. Our MoE is failing our young people, in my opinion.
By the way, where is PM Hipkins’ reply to Professor Rata’s open letter on education?
- Sara M
It is important that our teachers are rewarded fairly to ensure we get the best possible educators in the classroom.
But we also need at all levels to have a very honest discussion (including Government, Ministry of Education, principals, teachers and parents) as to why our educational outcomes have dropped so far from almost [being] world-leading 15 or so years ago to somewhere near the bottom of comparable countries.
- Waipapa M
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