Secondary school teachers' strikes will see many year 11 students at home today.
It's the result of stalled negotiations between the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) and the Government over pay and working conditions.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, the PPTA's Chris Abercrombie said today's strike action will be hugely disruptive for students, but teachers have been left with no choice.
"It's really unfortunate it's come to this, it's not what we want, we want a settled environment, we want to be in the classroom, we want to be teaching, that's why we're teachers.
"But this is something we've had to do to stand up for public education in New Zealand."
Abercrombie says the hope is that teachers will be able to get a settlement that deals with the recruitment and retention of teaching staff.
"Recruitment is a big part of being able to pay your bills, it's about retaining the teachers."
The partial strikes planned by the PPTA mean different year groups will be off school on different days.
Abercrombie said that today teachers will still be working at school, but they won't be teaching any year 11 students.
Moving forward, two days a week will be allocated to teachers striking and different regions will strike on different days.
"We are hopeful we won't have to do those actions but if we do not reach a good enough offer from the Government, we will have to continue this until we get to the point where we have a settlement," Abercrombie said.
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