North Otago teachers and principals were some of almost 50,000 around the country who walked off the job yesterday (Thursday, March 16) over pay and teaching conditions.

Talks with the Education Ministry came to a halt after its offer of up to an 11.7% pay rise over two years, a one-off payment of up to $1250, and 15 more hours per term of classroom release time, was voted down.

Only secondary principals have accepted the ministry's offer, which for them was a $4000 pay rise, plus a further 3% at the end of this year and a $6000 well-being allowance.

The strike was the second time primary and secondary school teachers had walked off the job on the same day, and the first time kindergarten teachers had joined them.

Education staff, children and supporters congregated along Thames Highway at Ōamaru’s North End, with signs saying things like “Fix our broken system”, and “We want the best learning environment for your kids”.

Weston School principal Deidre Senior said, in an email to the school community, that a lot of people were not aware principals were also striking.

Her job at Weston was her second as principal, and the job was getting harder.

“I don’t want to go on strike - and most of my principal colleagues don’t want to either - but we need to make the government aware of the crisis we are currently in. As are teachers - we are also striking about our conditions,” she said.

“Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my job, but gee, it’s getting tougher every year.”

Of the 19 schools in North Otago, nine had principals with less than five years’ experience, she said. Nationally, the figure sat around the 50% mark.

Being a principal should mean she could lead her staff and enable them to be the best teachers they could be.

She hoped she achieved that, but it was not what she spent most of her time doing. 

“Amongst other things, principals are financial managers, property overseers, HR experts, curriculum leads, and paper shufflers,” she said.

“Financially it’s hard to balance the books year after year, so I’m constantly applying for funding to support activities and purchases in our school - for children, for programmes, for teachers.”

She urged the public to take note of the strike.

“Please support both teachers and principals - because teachers can’t do their job well without us - and we can’t do our job well without them. But at the end of the day - kids need us all.”

In a social media post, Fenwick School stated the workload for teachers was “beyond huge”, the pay was not great, and “the needs within classes have grown hugely over the last decade”.

To strike was not a decision made lightly, and the school was reluctant to inconvenience its families, the post said.

“But we need to take action for the sake of the children and for all teachers.”

Kakanui School said there was a need to attract and retain educators by ensuring teaching was a valued and attractive profession. 

“The offers did not meet our expectations, nor make sufficient steps towards the changes we need for our children to succeed.”

Further strikes have not been ruled out, and a meeting between the two unions which organised the strikes and the Education Ministry was being held today (Friday, March 17).