Teachers declare latest offer ‘needs improvement’

Tens of thousands of primary and area school teachers from across Aotearoa have rejected pay offers made by the Ministry of Education.

A poll of members from the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa union shows teachers ‘‘unequivocally voted’’ against settling their collective agreements.

‘‘The teacher meetings were robust and frank and pretty much unanimous in telling the Government that their offer needs improvement,’’ NZEI Te Riu Roa president Liam Rutherford said.

It comes as tens of thousands more secondary and primary teachers around the country prepare to announce their decision this coming week. NZEI Te Riu Roa members covered by collective agreements for primary and area school teachers, principals and kindergarten teachers met over the past two weeks to discuss and vote on the offers made.

Rutherford said it was clear teachers were ‘‘frustrated and disappointed’’. Many felt the Government wasn’t listening.

He said the pay component of the offer did not meet the rising cost of living, with the Reserve Bank last week bringing more bad news.

The offer also failed to address concerns around reducing classroom ratios, fixing funding for learning support, reducing work demands and giving teachers ‘‘time to teach’’.

Wellington-based primary teacher Carl Pynenburg said the offer didn’t feel like it recognised the additional challenges teachers had responded to during the pandemic.

Pynenburg, who has been a teacher for eight years, voted against accepting the offer after asking himself ‘‘will this make a practical difference for me or my kids?’’.

He said there was also ‘‘no real movement’’ around release time and the non-contact time which helped teachers to find new ways of supporting tamariki.