Secondary teachers urge Government to find more effective solutions

“Teachers are sending a clear message to the Government that we want a collective agreement offer that meets the needs of teachers and students,” says Chris Abercrombie, PPTA Te Wehengarua president.

“We are looking for an offer that will help address the issues at the heart of our collective agreement claims: the need for more pastoral care staffing to give proper time and attention to increasing numbers of students with additional needs in our classrooms, and the need for our pay and conditions to be able to attract people into the profession and keep teachers in the job.

“We are facing once in a generation changes to the secondary school curriculum and qualifications system. Now, more than ever, we need to keep as many as possible of our skilled and experienced teachers in the classroom to help bring in these changes.

“We are currently short of about 800 teachers at least, because they are leaving for better pay in Australia, or for better pay and conditions in other careers here in Aotearoa New Zealand.”

Chris Abercrombie said that next week secondary teachers would take partial strike action in response to the lack of progress in negotiations.

Between Monday 15 September and Thursday 18 September, PPTA Te Wehengarua members will not teach, instruct, or supervise students in certain year levels in accordance with the following schedule: 

Monday 15 September 2025 – Years 12 and 13  

Tuesday 16 September- Year 11  

Wednesday 17 September- Year 10  

Thursday 18 September- Year 9  

“Teachers don’t take this action lightly and would much rather be continuing to teach in a settled environment.

“However, our collective agreement negotiations are a crucial way to get pressing teaching and learning issues addressed so we really need the Government to acknowledge our concerns and commit to finding effective and meaningful solutions.”