Stressed teachers ready for new strike

Primary school teacher Sarah Coup has increasingly found herself on the verge of burnout in recent years.

‘‘I’ve got six highly special needs kids in my classroom, who just overpower the classroom and take up so much time,’’ the teacher from Parklands School in Motueka said.

Coup is one of nearly 30,000 primary school staff who took part in a nationwide strike in August, and who will vote next week on whether to hold a second round of strike action, after their New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) union rejected the latest government pay offer.

She said that while she hated the idea of striking, it was necessary to bring attention to ‘‘a system that has been on the downhill slide for nine years’’.

‘‘NZEI are pushing for various things, but for me, as an on-theground classroom teacher, I’m pushing for lower class sizes and more teacher aide support. That is more important than having the pay rise.’’

Coup, who teaches a class of 30 children, aged seven to nine, recently applied for in-class support for her high-needs pupils, from the Government-funded Resource Teachers Learning and Behaviour service (RTLB).

The most help available for those pupils was five hours a week, the teacher of 16 years said.

Her school, and others across the country, were seeing ‘‘more and more’’ children who had experienced trauma in early childhood, through things like neglect, and who were displaying behavioural issues and learning difficulties, she said.

‘‘There’s no teacher aide funding support for a lot of these kids, because they fall under the radar.’’

It was demoralising not to be able to give her pupils the same attention that she could when she first started teaching, , she said.

The Ministry of Education should have greater flexibility to allocate more teachers to schools where needed, to help lower class sizes, Coup said.

‘‘The smaller the class size, the better the interaction and relationships that you can build with kids, which is paramount to their learning.’’

Also, paperwork had increased every year to a ‘‘phenomenal’’

‘‘I have been so close to burning out so many times, but the thing that keeps me going is the kids.’’

Sarah Coup, teacher

amount, and accountability for teachers had ‘‘blown out tenfold’’, she said.

‘‘I have been so close to burning out so many times, but the thing that keeps me going is the kids, and my relationships with them and not wanting to let them down.’’

Year 7 and 8 teacher Daniel Daly, from Broadgreen Intermediate in Stoke, said he would join any further strike action to try to help improve conditions for colleagues and pupils.

Daly said teachers were ‘‘trying to get by’’ with less one-on-one time with pupils. He had 32 children in his class earlier this year.

Worry about ‘‘where the profession was heading’’ was adding to low morale among teachers overall, he said.

More needed to be done to help take the pressure off teachers, rather than just raising pay, he said. ‘‘We need teaching as a profession to be more appealing.’’

The principal of Hampden Street Primary School in central Nelson, Don McLean, said the Government’s pay offers had ‘‘missed the point’’.

McLean said the number of teachers applying for jobs at the school had ‘‘greatly reduced’’, and pupils had been shifted into other classrooms when relief teachers couldn’t be found.

More needed to be done to attract quality teachers into the profession, he said. The focus should not just be on better pay, but on aspects of teaching like release time and funding special needs coordinators.

The Ministry of Education said it was working across a range of areas to improve conditions for teachers and principals. Deputy secretary of early learning and student achievement, Ellen MacGregor-Reid, said more than $270 million was provided in this year’s Budget to support children and young people with additional learning needs. The ministry was also undertaking engagement on a draft action plan that proposed making a Learning Support Coordinator accessible to every school.