Education Minister Erica Stanford has condemned the Post Primary Teachers’ Association’s (PPTA) decision to begin seven days of rolling strikes starting today, saying “parents should be furious” as the action coincides with NCEA exams.
The 21,000 secondary and area school teachers will refuse to teach certain year levels on set days, stage a full national strike on 23 October, and continue with further industrial actions through early November.
The PPTA said its members endorsed the strikes after rejecting the government’s latest pay offer, which included two small increases below inflation and no further rises for up to two years.
President Chris Abercrombie accused the government of failing to address key concerns around pay, workload, and pastoral support. Stanford, however, claimed the union was acting in bad faith and that the government had negotiated fairly, while Labour leader Chris Hipkins criticised her for not being across the details, calling the pay offer a “backwards step.”
We are furious, with you National and your predecessor, Labour. We have to pay for private schooling thanks to you. Can I have my taxes back, please?
Dead right!
Its time the government used more technology for teaching.
Levelled Standardized lesson plans for the many different levels of learners within a classroom.
Interactive graphics to keep the computer game era students interested and engaged.
Give the students options to choose themes which interest them.
No need for subject specialist teachers any more.
Reduce requirement for teachers by at least a half.
Lift the perfomance of our boys education.
And If anyone can bring in more technology to replace greedy self aggrandising teachers and their unions, Erica can.
Furious at the political class. You narcissistic, self absorbed hypocrites.
Two questions
1) What pay increase are secondary teachers seeking in NZ?
2) And How many step 10 teachers are there?
1) Secondary teachers in New Zealand are striking for a pay increase of between 10.2% and 19% over the term of their collective agreement, depending on experience and qualification level. They rejected a government offer that included phased increases and argued it fell short of inflation and sector needs.
📚 Breakdown of the Government’s Offer (Rejected)
– Overall range: 10.2% to 19% increase over the agreement’s term.
– Top step teachers (Step 10):
– Would receive a 4.7% increase, raising base pay to $107,886.
– Phased increases:
– October 2025: $2,600 for Step 10; $2,448 for Step 9; $1,300 for Steps 1–8.
– October 2026: $2,200 for Step 10; $2,108 for Step 9; $1,200 for Steps 1–8.
🧠 Why Teachers Are Striking
– Below inflation: The offer doesn’t match current or projected inflation, which teachers say amounts to a real pay cut.
– Retention crisis: NZ faces a shortage of 800 secondary teachers, with many leaving for better pay in Australia or other careers.
– Workload and pastoral care: Teachers want more staffing to support students with emotional and health needs.
– Pay equity: The government cancelled education sector pay equity claims, which teachers argue undermines fairness.
🗓️ Strike Actions
– Rolling strikes: Targeted year levels across different days.
– Full-day national strike: October 23.
– Two-hour national strike: November 5.
2) As of 2025, there are approximately 9,000 to 10,000 secondary teachers in New Zealand on the top pay step (Step 10) of the trained teachers’ salary scale. This estimate is based on Ministry of Education figures showing around 32,100 secondary teachers overall.
📊 Breakdown
– Total secondary teachers: ~32,100 in state and state-integrated schools.
– Step 10 teachers: Estimated at 28–31% of the workforce, based on career progression norms and union data.
– That’s roughly 9,000 to 10,000 teachers.
– Base salary at Step 10: $107,886 under the latest government offer.
🧠 Why This Matters
– Strike leverage: Step 10 teachers are often senior, experienced, and influential — their participation signals deep dissatisfaction.
– Budget impact: A $2,600 increase per teacher (as offered) would cost the government $23–26 million annually just for this group.
– Retention pressure: Many Step 10 teachers are nearing retirement or considering leaving — making pay and conditions critical for retention.
The 14.5% pay increase for New Zealand secondary teachers is above the recent inflation rate, which dropped to around 2.9% in 2024. However, teachers argue it’s still catching up from years of stagnant wages and high inflation.
Here’s another reason teachers are quitting-
https://www.amazon.com/Swimming-Cesspool-Gregg-Smith/dp/1447883268
“Parents should be furious”!!
Why no mention of “Whanau” Stanford, or are we all New Zealanders again?
Parents should be homeschooling…
And you’re right; no mention of Whanau attempts at homeschooling within the boundaries of Maori Culture,…
Maraes and Whanau have failed many young Maoris who often find themselves harassed by selective Law Enforcement and targeted by CYFS / Oranga Tamariki…
Here’s another example, Yank Homeschooler of ‘profiling and selective enforcement’.
This Nazional Government and the previous fascist Liebour Governments (the Uni-Party) continues to push for oppresive programs and laws while ignoring the populations.
Vote for the NZ Loyal Party, and the psy-ops ans social engineering stops!
love your comment
Me too.
Sack the woke teachers. Hire parents to teach the kids.
Righto Shelley, now walk your talk. Are you a home-schooler?
I have learnt more after leaving school than anything I learnt in school.
I learned to un-learn the lies that I had to learn, especially the holocaust lies.
And then I became aware of how they hijacked finance and invented fake money.
July 2019 top of pay scale $80500, December 2024 top of payscale $103085 according to the ppta. About a third of teachers are believed to be on top of scale.
About 28% payrise over 5 years. Average wage somewhere between $75,000 and $85,000 at end of 2024.
Seems like teachers are faring alright to me. Is a shitty time of year to strike for the pupils
Seeing the teacher want to play tough. With the new changes to the sick leave for part time people , teachers are just that we should apply new Labor laws to them . Greedy for part time workers
These people are government workers, public servants, SERVANTS! They are entitled grifters and the hammer needs to come down now, they make twice as much as people in productive jobs and just see taxpayers as chumps.
Message to all teachers.
If you don’t like your safe government job with 2 months paid leave. Come join the private sector.
And just to keep in mind: 3/4 of teachers are women.