Massive teachers' strike goes ahead today as Government reiterates there's no more money

As 50,000 teachers protest today for better pay and conditions, the Government remains adamant there's no more room for negotiations.

Today's strike is slated to be the biggest ever teacher protest in New Zealand. It's the first time teachers from primary and secondary schools have taken action simultaneously.

Dozens of rallies, from the Far North to Invercargill, are being held today. Police are advising motorists to be mindful of congestion.

The teachers union rejected the Government's $1.2 billion offer, but Education Minister Chris Hipkins told TVNZ1's Breakfast today the Government's maintaining its stance that there's no more money.

He said there had to be a limit to what the Government can put in teachers' pay packets, but he does understand the issue goes further than higher wages.

"A lot of teachers are writing and saying, 'Actually we think the pay's not bad now.' It's a whole lot of other issues that they're raising - it's around workload, it's around support for kids with special needs - and those are all issues that the Government absolutely acknowledges and we want to be able to address those as well."

The offer put forward by the current Government is more than the previous Government in total, he said. "But that's not the only thing we are doing. Of course we are seeking to address all of the other issues that teachers are raising as well outside of that."

Post Primary Teachers' Association president Jack Boyle says he knows the Government won't be able to fix a decade of issues and underfunding in the first pay, but he wants to see better conversations and support for the sector moving forward.

"I'm expecting that after the strike today, the community engagement - we will have parents and students with us, that that will be sufficient to motivate the Government to move away from 'it's this much money and it's no more' and into that realm where the minister more recently has been talking about workload, talking about how we actually bring out the best in our teachers by making the job do-able.

"I believe that when you look at this Government and other Governments they do sort of turn on the public bellwether and that's what we're hoping for. But obviously there's quite a bit of work to do to overturn nine years of neglect."

He said they are not asking for the Government to be able to fix all the years of "neglect" in one pay round, but was rather looking for a "correction".

"That correction was because people aren't coming in, and those who are are finding that the job is simply not doable ... While we're talking about what we need right now - that is a pathway so that we can actually be the best place to be a child, and education is a critical leader in that.

"The best form of industrial action is the one that you don't need to take and so we really hope that the Government is willing to engage around those issues. If they haven't got the money for everything, totally understand that - engaging around the issues so that we can actually say we're brining in the brightest and best, we're supporting them to do the best for kids and we've got a plan for the future.

"There's a lot of opportunity to transform things, not just for teachers but ultimately for young people."

Lynda Stuart, president of NZEI, which is the largest education trade union in New Zealand, says 20 per cent of new teachers leave within the first three years, and 40 to 50 per cent leave in the first five years.

"That's huge, so what we want to be able to do is keep them in education," she said. "We don't want to be putting all this money into training people and supporting them and then actually losing them."

She said the $1.2 billion funding offer does not address the workload issues faced by teachers, or bring primary teachers up to the pay level of secondary teachers.

"Education is the best investment for a country," she said.