Kerre Woodham: Biggest losers out of teacher strikes will be the kids

To start with we're going to look at the latest announcement from teachers that they're taking strike action to force the Government's hand in their pay negotiations.

It is the last thing that parents and kids need to hear. Primary school teachers have announced they too will be joining their secondary school teaching colleagues in strike action across the country.

The press release from the NZEI said this is a combined work force of 50,000 people together, our voices will be loud. This is our opportunity to act collectively, to tell the Government that their offers are not good enough they must do better to show they value educators. We are strongest when we act collectively, make a plan with your colleagues about what you will do on strike day.

Rallies and marches across the country have been planned for next Thursday. And sure, we are agreed that the conditions are far from ideal, that much more could be done to ensure that teachers are there and able to do the job that they love. 

For many it is a job they love, but they're finding increasingly difficult to do. And I do have sympathy for them. Up to a point, but come on. Teacher only days school holidays, public holidays. The possibility of floods. Actual floods. The pandemic.

Yes, preventing the spread of a virus is important. Yes, there's a chance that bad weather might turn into something more. Yes, teachers are valued. The work they do is important. All of these things are important. You know who's not important? The kids.

That's the clear message I'm getting. Maybe I'm absolutely too one eyed to have any kind of perspective on this because one thing I am absolutely passionate about is that education gives children the chance to level the playing field. 

There's justification for every single time schools have been closed. But in the order of priorities, the message that's been coming through loud and clear for the past five years is that young people simply do not rate and I despair. 

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