Teachers struggle to care for own children
Nicky Edwards feels guilty.
She sacrifices her lunch breaks to emails, meetings, and lesson plans for her class of new entrants, hoping it will give her time with her own children.
‘‘I’m never enjoying what they’re doing; I’ve always got my computer open,’’ she said.
‘‘I’ve been known to take books with me and sit in the car park, in my car working, while my children are doing whatever activities to keep on top of my responsibilities.
‘‘You feel like you’re just keeping yourself above water.’’
Her colleagues at Christchurch’s Halswell School feel the same. They speak of never-ending ‘‘to do’’ lists, 12-hour work days, and an inability to mentally switch off at nights and weekends.
They feel guilty when they stop working – it means they’ve probably forgotten something – and they feel guilty about going on strike, despite giving up a day’s pay.
‘‘A lot of our kids go to OSCAR after school so that gives us an indication that the parents are working,’’ teacher Rachel Davies said.
Like many others, Halswell School will shut its doors on Wednesday. Every teacher there is unionised, and principal Bruce Topham will lead his staff in a march from Cathedral Square on the day. They plan to make banners together on Tuesday night.
Topham said his school is one of the lucky ones. It’s decile 10, was built in 2015, and pays for teacher aides with community fund raising.
‘‘Most of our kids come from homes where they’re getting breakfast.’’ And yet, he said Halswell’s teachers are getting ‘‘burnt out’’. ‘‘They’re giving 100 per cent. What else can you ask for?’’
The teachers said some issues, such as high workloads, low teacher retention rates and growing behavioural problems affected all schools.
Amy Craddock moved to Christchurch from Auckland to live with her partner four weeks ago. She applied for three jobs and was offered all of them.
Considering the difficulties attracting teachers up north, ‘‘when I had to tell my principal I was leaving, it was pretty hard’’, she said.
She gets into school at 7.15am and sometimes doesn’t finish working until 8pm. Answering a late night email can mean two hours’ extra work.
Release time from class doesn’t always relieve that burden, she said: ‘‘You have to use that time so wisely to get everything done.’’
Anita Head, who shares a modern learning environment with two other teachers, said collaborating with them was a great support.
But the pace of change in teaching is accelerating. The paperwork had increased, there’s always new curriculum to learn outside of class time, and the constant flurry of activity in her 90-child classroom is ‘‘exhausting’’.
Parents have high expectations for teachers, who internalise those because they care about the kids, she said.
‘‘I have been teaching for 22 years and I’m getting to the point where I don’t know if I can do it for much longer.
‘‘People talk about work-life balance, but I don’t think that exists in teaching anymore.’’
Edwards hopes Wednesday’s strike will draw a line in the sand.
‘‘If the Government isn’t listening to us, we have to stand up and say it’s not okay.’’
‘‘You feel like you’re just keeping yourself above water.’’ Nicky Edwards