A primary teacher is not surprised the majority of her colleagues didn’t accept the Government’s third pay offer, even though she did.
The teacher, who didn’t want to be named, said she accepted the latest offer because she’s still relatively new to the profession and doesn’t feel as strongly about the lack of adequate classroom support as some teachers do.
“This offer clearly did not meet members’ expectations sufficiently to settle our agreement." lead negotiator for the Primary Teachers’ Collective Agreement negotiation team Barb Curran said.
"They want an offer that swiftly delivers additional time and staffing to enable teachers to support students. And they want a pay offer that will pay the bills, having seen no pay rise since July 2021 while the CPI has increased at record levels."
In an interview with 1News, the teacher said pay is no longer the issue, but a lack of measures to help under pressure and overworked teachers in the classroom remains the sticking point.
“It’s not just a problem you can chuck money at," she said.
She said she feels it’s a “bad economic time” to keep striking and feels it’s “unrealistic” teachers will achieve the amount of planning time, student support and recognition for working extra hours that’s required through ongoing negotiations.
The announcement from the Government to reduce classroom ratios in years four to eight to 28 children per class, down from 29 children, by 2025, was viewed as ‘too little’ and coming into force ‘too late’ by some teachers, she said.
“The feeling was most teachers thought that was an issue and didn’t feel like the Government was giving their best offer, were holding back still," the teacher said.
She said the feeling that if National becomes the Government in October, future negotiations will be tougher to get improved offers for teachers, was also reflected by some teachers.
“Lots of teachers want best for their kids – you (currently) feel like you’re not there to help your kids," she said.
"I think it’s a feeling of people feeling overwhelmed, people are really struggling in the classroom, I think that’s why the offer was rejected. That support is going to take too long.”
She said a lot of planning time is spent writing up learning plans for children that have specific learning needs, instead of classroom planning, and mentioned a colleague who spends his own time shopping for resources for a child who doesn’t qualify for ongoing support from the Government’s ORS scheme.
Primary teachers will vote from May 18 to May 22 on whether to go on strike.
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