Teachers on strike and protesting in Auckland in March 2023 (file photo). Photo: RNZ / Jordan Dunn
A man who started a petition against industrial action by secondary teachers says he supports their goals.
Jono Skipwith told RNZ's Nine to Noon on Thursday his petition opposed PPTA members' refusal to teach two year groups per day for four days a week.
He said the action hurt students and parents, but it should be targeting the Ministry of Education.
"We do support teachers that they need to get more pay and they want better conditions, but I just don't see how parents and children are the bargaining chip in that situation.
"I understand that strikes are meant to be disruptive but they're supposed to be disruptive to the employer or the person that is depending on that labour."
Skipwith said teenagers had missed a ridiculous amount of classroom time in recent years due to the pandemic. He said he was shocked to learn his daughters would miss seven days of school due to the latest industrial action.
"We got really short notice of this continued action. We got an email on Friday from the school listing the days off for the remaining weeks of the term. They've had one day off this week at our school. but next week each year will be home for two days."
Skipwith said it was "almost disgusting" that bargaining over the secondary teachers' collective agreement had been going on for 11 months.
By Thursday evening just over 1100 people had signed the petition.
Auckland parent Ngaire White told Nine to Noon secondary school students in the city had missed a lot of classroom time in recent years due to the pandemic, and this year cyclones, strikes and teacher-only days had added to the disruption.
"The amount of learning time that's been lost is really quite staggering and it seems difficult to imagine how that time can be caught up."
White said her Year 11 daughter had been told her teacher would have to skip part of the physics curriculum because there was not enough time to teach it.
University of Waikato senior lecturer Dr Katrina McChesney said rostering students home was challenging for families, but teachers were doing it because their pay and conditions were not good enough to attract and retain teachers.
The supply of teachers was already in a crisis, which would only get worse without better pay and conditions, McChesney said.
"If the government doesn't respond with a big change in the working conditions and pay of our secondary teachers, it's going to get worse and this kind of disruption is going to be normal - not because teachers are striking but because there is nobody in the school to teach waves in physics or dance.
"We need a real investment in our secondary teaching sector, and that's what the teachers are trying to stand up for."
Nine to Noon also asked Education Minister Jan Tinetti and Secretary for Education at the Ministry of Education Iona Holsted to appear on the programme, but both declined.
In a statement the Ministry of Education said the strikes "put young people in the middle of an adult dispute".
'Has to happen'
Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) acting president Chris Abercrombie told Checkpoint on Thursday he could not give an update on how negotiations with the Ministry of Education were faring, but he was "hopeful that we'll be able to reach a deal as soon as possible".
"Teachers are really keen to get a settlement so hopefully it doesn't take much longer, but the ball's fully in the government's court to make this stop."
If it was not resolved soon, union members were planning to meet again on 26 June to decide what industrial action to take in term three. Abercrombie said it was up to members to decide what that would look like, and may include more rolling strikes, where teachers refuse to teach certain Years on particular days.
"I'm not going to say it's going to happen either, but I'm definitely not ruling it out."
Checkpoint host Lisa Owen told Abercrombie the show had heard from PPTA members and nurses unhappy with how long it was taking. One claimed to be a 35-year veteran of teaching who recently resigned from the union, saying it had lost the moral high ground by damaging kids' education.
"This is a really stressful time for everyone involved," Abercrombie replied.
"But this is unfortunately something that we have to do to be able to ensure the future of secondary education in Aotearoa New Zealand. But we fully understand the frustration… we are dealing with that same frustration. Teachers don't want this to be happening any more than parents or students want this to be happening."
There were no other options that would get the government's attention he said.
"Through very bitter experience meaningful improvement in secondary education has had to come through industrial action… that's what's happened in the past, and unfortunately it seems [to be] what has to happen now."
Without it, there would be fewer and fewer teachers he said, saying the action was less impactful on students' education than not having a teacher at all.
Teachers were still on full pay, Abercrombie saying they were using the time not in front of classes to do other work, such as planning and marking.
