Backing the teachers – and children

Last week around 50,000 teachers and principals walked off the job. As I’m writing this, news is coming in that the PPTA is planning to strike again.

with Teanau Tuiono

Agriculture spokesperson

for the Green Party

The recent historic joint strike action involved primary, secondary, kindergarten, and area school teachers and kaiako Maori, alongside primary and area school principals.

Thousands of them gathered at Parliament and I went down to the forecourt to listen.

I heard about serious issues around funding and understaffing, ratios and sick leave. It is important to remember that the conditions teachers face in schools and classrooms, though often overlooked, are essential elements to student achievement and teacher retention.

In short, they told us that teacher working conditions are student learning conditions.

Out in rural communities our teachers are an integral part of our communities often multi-tasking many roles at once. Often the School Principal is having to pick some of the teaching and take care of subject areas outside of their areas of expertise.

As one teacher said at the strike last week:

“Our small school principals are burning out because of the workload, having to teach and be a principal. We need to build a strong, caring, well looked after workforce so that we can look after your children and give them a great start to their educational career.” –Marama Stewart, primary school principal, Taneatua

As you can see, teachers, especially those from small rural schools, were very clear about what can be done to improve educational outcomes in Aotearoa.

That’s why the National Party’s education announcement yesterday got a big fat fail from me.

The solution is not more tests. It’s addressing underlying inequality and underinvestment, so children can actually get to school and teachers can be supported to teach.

The Government needs to come to the table and ensure teacher pay is raised, and staffing, underfunding, ratios, and sick leave is addressed.

If we make sure every teacher is valued, from busy to urban centres to small rural schools, every child in Aotearoa will be able to reach their full potential with a high-quality, accessible education.