Secondary school teachers across the country ditched classrooms for picket lines on Wednesday (August 20) in response to what Cromwell teacher Lara Coker describes as an “offensive and insulting” pay offer from the government.

On the table: a one percent pay rise each year for three years.

“I know things are tough right now for lots of people, but it doesn’t even keep up with the cost of living,” Lara told The Central App from the local picket line.

Under the Big Fruit in Cromwell at 1pm were teachers holding signs with slogans that included, ‘1% payrise = 0% respect’, ‘Toot to support teachers, 1% ain’t enough’, and ‘$147,000, Yeah right’ - the later a reference to an incorrect comment made in recent days by government minister Judith Collins inflating an average teacher pay packet, a comment the minister has since apologised for.

Science and digital technologies teacher and union representative Kieran Philip said the decision to strike was not taken lightly, and acknowledged the “disruption” it caused parents.

“Many of us here, we’re parents as well, and we like to think parents are somewhat on our side. We have the kids’ best interests at heart.”

Beyond the issue of pay, teachers were also asking for more support for pastoral care, he said.

“That has just ballooned. Post earthquakes, post Covid, the complex needs of the kids are just increasing, and so having money to resource people to deal with those (makes sense) rather than having it on the classroom teacher who’s also trying to teach 30 kids at the same time.”

Cromwell College teachers Ashlee Carr, Katya Blair and Rebecca Cameron. Photo: The Central App

Art teacher Ashlee Carr made her own signs to help get her point across. 

She described feeling like something of a political football in recent days, watching successive government ministers front the media with what she believed to be their own agendas.

“One of the biggest things for me is that the government is making massive changes without teacher consultation,” she said.

She called teachers “an endangered species” as in her view they were not valued and supported enough by the government to entice the next generation to the profession.

“And that’s really, really concerning.”

Year seven teacher Katya Blair said she finds herself referring to the young people in her class as “my kids”.

“It really shows how much we value them.”

Close to 20,000 secondary school teachers participated in the strike, giving up a day’s pay in doing so.

In a statement, PPTA Te Wehengarua president Chris Abercrombie said, “The government’s offer of a one percent pay increase is the lowest in a generation and comes at the same time as teachers face the biggest changes to secondary education in a generation”.

Earlier, Education Minister Erica Stanford called the union's strike action drastic and disproportionate to the “fair and reasonable offer made by the government”.

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