Teacher drives 180km for Auckland job
Buying a house is next to impossible, teachers in South Auckland say.
Kaveeta Shiriwastow’s day starts in Thames at 2.50am so she can make it in time to her teaching job in Manurewa. She has to complete chores, get herself and her two sons, who are of different ages and attend different schools, ready for the day.
Driving the 180-kilometre return trip daily leaves her with little time for her boys.
‘‘I grew up in Thames and my parents live there. I happened to find a teaching job at Clendon Park School,’’ the single parent is why I chose to commute.’’
Shiriwastow spends about three hours a day in her car.
‘‘If the Government ... do put the pay up, I would consider moving.’’
Classrooms sizes of 30 or more students and the increased workload was ‘‘affecting the students’’.
‘‘The New Zealand education system is in crisis. We have growing student numbers and a shortage of teachers.’’
Shiriwastow attended a recent NZEI teachers union meeting, along with 220 teachers and principals from Manurewa, asking the Ministry of Education for a 16 per cent pay rise, reduced workloads, and options for career development among other demands. According to NZEI, new graduates entering the profession this year earn $47,039, with those at the top of the basic pay scale rising to $74,460.
From Clendon Park School, Renee Tuapawa and Maeva Chung-Earnest say they have teachers travelling from afar, out west, one even from Huntly.
Data collation and administration duties were a deterrent to the job, Chung-Earnest said.
‘‘You don’t have enough time to just teach. You’re not just a teacher, sometimes you’re a social worker ... there’s a lot of special needs issues you have to deal with in the classroom.’’
Diana Tregoweth, principal of Papatoetoe West School, said that recently she advertised two teaching vacancies. ‘‘A few years ago we would get up to 80 people sending in CVs, now we’re getting two to four people applying. Often they are not suitable and they haven’t trained in New Zealand. The wages just aren’t attractive.’’
Education Minister Chris Hipkins said it would be ‘‘inappropriate to comment on the specifics of bargaining’’.
He is aware that teachers want to talk about a range of issues including pay and workload.
‘‘We’ve already taken practical measures ... including removing National Standards which teachers strongly opposed and reducing the unnecessary workload impact of NCEA,’’ he said.