A personal story: 'This is why teachers are striking'
"While I might be passionate about what I teach, I can’t pay my rates, power bill or mortgage in passion."
Teachers throughout New Zealand opted to strike on Thursday in search for better pay and work conditions. Southland secondary school teacher Michael Buick was one of them. Here he shares his own personal story of working as a teacher.
People ask why teachers are striking. Here’s my personal story.
For the last four years, I’ve been doing two jobs. I was a Senior Manager at our school, looking after Curriculum, overseeing Timetable changes, coordinating Reporting, planning Prizegivings, and liasing with staff over everything to do with teaching and learning.
Throughout the Covid pandemic, that also meant changing tack and dealing with the Ministry of Education initiates to support learning from home - emailing every family in the school to check on their digital preparedness and then registering their needs as the Ministry of Education rolled out plans for learning from home packs, devices for home use and internet connections.
The processes were stressful and rolled out slowly, with a lack of communication from the Ministry, but we were in a pandemic, and everyone was doing their best.
I was receiving hundreds of emails a day at all times of day and night. For months afterwards, the ding of an incoming email triggered severe emotional responses for me.
Throughout all of this, I was also the Head of our Performing Arts faculty. Being a Music teacher, many look at the department and think it is small - I am the only one full time on staff - but I work with a phenomenal group of 8 other Itinerant Music teachers who come in for highly pressured segments of our week. The stresses in their jobs are a whole other story!
We have an additional 150 students (over and above those who choose Music as a classroom subject) come through the doors of my department each week for Music Lessons. In my 8 years at my school, we’ve been building students’ capability and resilience, and encouraging them to push themselves to try new things.
As a result, we have members of the 1st XV Rugby, the 1st V Basketball, the 1st XI Cricket and Hockey teams who sing in the choir, and have actively encouraged their mates to join.
Seven of the last eight Head Prefects have taken up the challenge to get involved. One of my ex-students [Michael Kuresa] has this year released his debut single to the New Zealand charts. I love what I do in and around the classroom, and what our students have achieved in my time working with them.
Oddly enough, there were also classes (this is sarcasm folks, of course there were, that’s why we’re employed as teachers!).
As the sole Music teacher on staff, I had 4 classes - three junior classes, and a Senior class made up of three levels of students studying NCEA.
This all took a toll. Running a department takes time, especially in Performing Arts (much like PE departments, so much of what we do takes place outside of timetabled classroom hours).
I don’t take lunch breaks - that’s one of the times that suits students to work on their extra-curricular pursuits. For the last four years I was doing two jobs - Senior Manager and Head of Faculty. Both are demanding in terms of workload, and the time needed to get through daily tasks. I was paid to do one job – that of the Senior Manager.
Last year, I finally recognised the toll that everything was taking on me, and my ability to remain effective. In the middle of the year, I approached my Principal about relinquishing the Department responsibilities and focusing on Management. It was agreed that the school should advertise for a new Head of Performing Arts. While disappointed that I wouldn’t be teaching in my area of passion, I felt comfortable that this was the best decision to ensure students kept getting the best deal.
Months later, the Ministry of Education announced staffing levels for schools. Most schools in the country took a hit in terms of the number of teacher positions that would be funded for the 2023 year.
Our school, which has a roll of approximately 1100, was advised that we were to lose 6 positions. As I sat in a Management meeting discussing the additional workload that I’d be taking on this year, it became clear that there would be no new appointments made for 2023.
I had a sleepless night, tossing and turning over how I would manage to take on more, as well as sustain what I was already doing, as there was clearly not going to be an appointment made to take over Performing Arts.
I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t manage, and that taking on more stress, when I had already indicated that I was trying to reduce stress and improve my effectiveness would not serve anyone – not me, not the school, and certainly not the students – well. To best serve the students and the school, I elected to take a demotion and subsequent pay cut to return to solely focusing on the Performing Arts department.
I was the only person in the school who could teach in that area, whereas many others could take on Management responsibilities.
I regret being put in the position of having to make that decision but I don’t regret taking steps to look after my health and well-being, and I don’t regret getting to spend more time with students teaching what I love – I hope that they pick up on my passion for what I’m doing.
I am frustrated that the Ministry of Education doesn’t see funding schools adequately as being a priority. The conditions I work in are the conditions that students learn in. As staffing levels are cut, and fewer people are prepared to take on the work involved in being a teacher, class numbers rise.
A significant part of our jobs revolves around emotional support for students who have gone through hellish times. We have one Guidance Counsellor on staff for our 1100 students – she is amazing, but how can she keep up with the flood of issues that modern students have to deal with?
The Ministry of Education is being disingenuous when they say they have been negotiating in good faith with teaching unions.
For us, in nine months of negotiation, there has been one offer. That offer doesn’t go towards keeping up with inflation in the last two years since our last update, let alone do anything about addressing inflation over the coming three years that is likely to be the term of a new contract when (if) it gets ratified. While I might be passionate about what I teach, I can’t pay my rates, power bill or mortgage in passion.
We’ve heard this Government say time and time again “be kind”. Teachers have been kind for years, and this is the situation we’re now in – stressed, overworked and undervalued. We encourage students to take a stand and express themselves. We’re finally practising what we preach.
It’s time for the Government and the Ministry of Education to stop playing games and resolve our contract negotiations – 9 months of negotiations for one unreasonable offer? This is why teachers are striking.