Decades ago there was an expression called the 'play way' used to cynically describe an apparent lack of structure for new entrants in their first year at school.
This current bunch of teachers got used to Ardern's 'progressive' government under inept Hipkins' 'playway' system which refused to pin down children with much testing and preferred child centred decision making. Loosely structured programmes designed by adults who should have known this approach was doomed to failure.
Dangerous group think by socialists gone horribly wrong. A kind of child abuse which has ruined thousands of lives and to a degree the lunatics have still metaphorically got control of the asylum, as those in charge have been pushing back with support from the media who want Labour back in charge.
They don't like the more structured approach to numeracy and literacy (music to my ears) as it means more work. To hell with the kids. The truth is many teachers have got very lazy.
Ardern's failing was not to make a major priority of school attendance after she closed schools for too long during covid. Now years later it is much harder as truancy has become a habit for thousands of pupils. What a pity she didn't put her charismatic personality to practical use to get most students back to thc classroom; she didn't have the mentality to realise her grave mistake. Too hooked up on repression of free speech and other unhinged socialist dogma.
Her only claim to fame was to visit as many primary schools as possible and (wrongly) indoctrinate our children that Aotearoa, not New Zealand, was our country's new name. So sad.
39% attendance in 2023 was shocking; although May 2025 saw 58%, a 20% improvement, but still appalling. Like many teachers the kids had got lazy used to skipping school with low expectations from adults who should have known better.
Stanford excelled herself today in the House answering Willow Jean Prime's simpering repetitive questions. Her piece de resistance was naming (and shaming) the NZEI for their (inferred) negative approach and refusal to accept 12 weeks holidays and generous teacher only days provide time to upskill on new resources. This is the same with the PPTA.
Many people working in the private sector during this financial down time do not get guaranteed pay rises in tune with inflation; many have not had one for a very long time. This is belt tightening time, which the Opposition, teachers, media and unions who think money grows on trees, refuse to accept. The private sector also don't get life time guaranted employment like teachers, not to forget the holidays.
I left teaching 30 years ago. I can only remember one teacher only day on the first day of the year. Maybe we had one in term two and three, can't remember. Google weren't much help, We had three terms and 2 fewer weeks holidays.
And the pay wasn't great. MPs pay, if similar, must have been much lower in those days. I could only afford to travel overseas when my bond was finished as I played background music at a wedding venue on Saturdays and sang with a band on Friday and Saturday nights which had the benefit of increasing my bank balance.
I did not go on one protest during my 20 years teaching, just the occasional scheduled meetings at the Avondale Race Course which usually took place later in the day, closing schools at 1pm or 2pm, to the best of my memory. Not selfishly putting parents out with teacher only days pulled out of a hat at the last minute and strikes up the wazoo.
Teachers are like Maori, (publicly) thankless for all the money spent on their resources and just keep on like Oliver Twist asking for more. $700 million put aside in the 2025 budget for Maori; at this rate we will never get to surplus. What happened to the need not race approach to funding?
The very first funding announced by the government at the end of 2023 was $70 million for immunisation for Maori under twos for Northland and the East Coast. Did I hear one word of thanks from one Maori leader? Deafening silence. Immunisation is steadily rising thanks to Shane Reti's and now Simeon Brown's tireless efforts. Axing vaccination targets may have been Ardern's biggest mistake. And she made many... But I digress.
How can many primary school teachers who are being spoon-fed by Stanford's new innovative structured programmes for teachers and pupils ask for more money when they don't know the curriculum they are supposed to be trained to teach?
That has always been the question on the tip of my tongue.
But I can't finish without mentioning the thousands of teachers who love their jobs, are equipped with the necessary knowledge and a positive attitude, and against the odds improve outcomes for their pupils every day. I am sure many of these would have been at Stanford's Road Show this week eager to get across the new curriculum to impart to their classes.
Not loitering at roadsides on Thursday, accompanied by their victim mentality, with their negative signage boring the public silly with their pathetic platitudes.
Hope the heavens open.
Wendy Geus is a former speechwriter and generalist communications advisor in local government. She now writes for the pure love of it.
8 comments:
Stick to your guns, teachers. NZ needs qualified educators or we are at risk of falling into idiocracy. Ignore the coordinated disinformation campaign. Real kiwis are seeing through the political smokescreen and are with you all the way!
Well said. Nail and head come to mind.
Yeah all those greedy teachers and doctors. When will we finally get a government who sticks up for the regular folk, like landlords, fossil fuel companies, tobacco companies!?
I read in the news this morning this what the Public Service Commissioner’s actions say about how seriously the government is about getting a resolution.
“Speaking to Morning Report while on holiday in Australia, Roche said he remained available to any negotiating parties.”
Like yeah you don’t want “helping teachers” to get in the way of a good holiday. The disregard is so blatant that it should be funny, but this is about our children’s future, so it is just plain disgusting.
It’s hard to understand why some people don’t back teachers fighting for better pay and conditions. We should be backing the people shaping our future, not expecting them to just make do. Good education starts with looking after the educators.
Wendy. I have a better idea. This is the opportunity to start cleaning out the far left radical rot that most of these teachers try to instill in these kids. Get rid of them. It will be hard for about 2 years, but it will be worth it.
Kia kaha teachers! Also there are far too many mixed metaphors in this opinion piece, the author needs to go back to school herself!
Professionals are paid to do a job and public perception of them depends largely on how well they are seen to be doing that job.
Doctors and nurses work in a system that is characterised by continual improvements in medicine and surgery, leading to better outcomes for more patients. Hence, they tend to attract public sympathy when complaining about pay and conditions.
Teachers, on the other hand, are working in a system that has seen a downgrading of those things that make it work, such as a curriculum that focuses on basic skills. Outcomes have headed south - kids leave primary school incompetent in reading and writing and carrying out artithmetical operations, while slightly older kids leave high school ill-prepared for further or higher education or entry into the work force. Hence many people are unsupportive of demands for higher pay and better conditions (i.e. having more money thrown at the system).
In my opinion, the education system as a whole is not working properly because the central authority does not dictate detailed curricula and impose strict performance criteria on teachers which they must meet in order to be able to claim that they are doing their jobs. In the so-called Napoleonic system of governance, teachers are 'agents of the State' and must enact the will of the State through rigidly prescribed curricula.
I gather that there is a curricular tightening up process going on in NZ. This can only be a good thing. Once teachers enact it and we see pupils getting better at the things they are supposed to be learning, I suspect many people will be more supportive of teacher claims to higher salaries.
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