Frustrated parents are fed up and concerned about how much school their kids are missing because of the continual teachers' strikes and negotiations between the union and the Government.
The Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) voted to reject the Government's recent offer for settlement of the secondary and area school teachers' collective agreements on Friday.
At the same time, PPTA members also voted on further industrial action for the rest of Term 2 - the next three weeks. They will not teach two-year levels per day.
Industrial action resumed on Monday with Years 11 and 12 rostered home. The rest of the rostering home industrial action will see:
- Tuesday, June 13: Years 9 and 10
- Wednesday, June 14: Years 10 and 11
- Thursday, June 15: Years 12 and 13
- Monday, June 19: Years 9 and 10
- Tuesday, June 20: Years 11 and 12
- Wednesday, June 21: Years 9 and 13
- Thursday, June 22: Years 10 and 11
- Monday, June 26: Years 12 and 13
- Tuesday, June 27: Years 9 and 10
- Wednesday, June 28: years 11 and 12
- Thursday, June 29: Years 9 and 13
PPTA Auckland Regional Chair Paul Stevens told AM on Monday on average high school students will miss five days of school over the remaining three weeks of the term.
"It's tough on our students and I think we need to be able to acknowledge that. It's tough on families as well and I can understand the frustration that lots of parents will have," Stevens told AM co-host Ryan Bridge.
"I think what we need to be highlighting there is that frustration is understandable, but that is the frustration we've been having for a long time."
High school teachers have been in pay negotiations with the Government for about a year and striking for around three months.
This has seen support for teachers slowly change, with parents starting to become frustrated.
High school students have missed a lot of school over the last three years from the COVID-19 pandemic, weather-related school closures and ongoing strikes.
A frustrated secondary school teacher emailed AM saying all Stevens talked about was "pay, pay, pay" and nothing about the "other stuff".
"I for one actually voted to accept the offer because I could see we are losing support," the viewer wrote.
Another frustrated parent emailed in saying, "Teachers are sacrificing kids to get more money in their pockets, take what you are given now and teach our kids".
Alistair, a South Island parent, told NZ Herald the Ministry of Education and the PPTA needed to sort their "s*** out" and "act like adults".
"Stop playing games with children's education".
When asked if the PPTA is "pushing it too far" and risks losing the support of parents, Stevens said industrial action is the best way to get their message across.
"I think the conversation needs to be one of making sure the public is aware of what the issues are and we need to continue to highlight that," he said.
"The way that we can do that is through industrial action, which has an impact on students. But the reality, and this is what many of our parents know, is that teachers do more and more and more out of the love of their heart."
Stevens also pointed out that teachers are also doing work on top of their current workload that isn't paid.
"I'm not sure everyone realises, for example, that extracurricular activities, which aren't even part of the current band except for one day in week nine, that's not paid, that is stuff that teachers are doing on top of their usual work," he told AM.
Despite teachers refusing to teach two-year levels a day, Stevens said they're still working for 40 hours a week.
He said in the hours when they're not teaching students, they're doing work they've been doing outside of school hours.
"They're doing what they would usually be doing in the evenings. They are doing what they would usually be doing on the weekends," he said.
"So part of what's being highlighted here is that for many, many teachers in this country and it's the same for our primary colleagues who have settled, is that it's not sustainable long term, it's not sustainable long term."
Primary teachers settled their contract dispute last week, which is being labelled a "huge win".
Watch the full interview with Paul Stevens in the video above.
This article was amended on June 14 because it incorrectly stated that high school teachers have been striking for close to a year. They have been in pay negotiations for close to a year. The story has been amended accordingly.
