Teacher Strike Day 16 MArch

Kia ora

Teacher Strike Day - Thursday 16 March

Teachers have voted overwhelmingly to strike next Thursday - 16 March. School will not be open on this day.

The reasons the teacher unions give for the industrial action are set out below.

Our tamariki need a quality education. And we want to give that to them. Unfortunately, the funding for our schools and kindergartens is not enough for us to give us the time we would like to support all our kids to thrive.

We need to attract and retain educators by ensuring that teaching is a valued and attractive profession.

Principals and teachers in primary and area schools and kindergartens have considered at length offers from the government to settle our respective collective agreements.

The offers did not meet our expectations, nor make sufficient steps towards the changes we need for our children to succeed.

You may have seen that we voted to take industrial action on 16 March.

It’s the last thing we wanted to do. And the decision was not taken lightly.

We felt that this was the only way the government would listen and recognise that when they support our children to learn and succeed, we are supporting whānau and communities to thrive.

We look forward to another great year in 2023 – and together with your support, building the case for better investment in our tamariki.

I’m not that happy about the disruption the strike will cause you and your family but I want your children and your grandchildren to have a great education delivered by great teachers. I hope that this strike action and the subsequent actions by NZEI will lead to more people choosing a career in education.

Geoff Franks

Principal