High school teachers have walked off the job for the second time this month as they call for better pay and working conditions.
While the secondary school students 1News spoke to were supportive of their teachers, there's also concern from some about the learning disruption they're experiencing.
Auckland student Lamiya Sattar has now faced multiple school closures in Term 1 due to flooding and industrial action.
"This year with the Covid being not such a big thing we expected it to be a little bit of a calmer year but it's not got off to a great start," she said.
"I just wish there was some way that we could get these teachers their fair pay and other such things without affecting the students and the learning environment."
Christchurch student Rumi Browne-Scott is not concerned about the impact on his learning and said he would spend the day doing some schoolwork and possibly going to a movie with friends.
Remote learning already occurs once a week at his school.
Browne-Scott said students would also reap benefits from teachers receiving an improved collective agreement.
"In the long run, you know, affect their moods, make them happier and then it will affect the students in the end," he said.
Sattar said teachers should receive better pay, but schools should also receive a funding increase to ensure classrooms have adequate resources and all students have the supplies they need.
Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) acting president and teacher Chris Abercrombie gave an impassioned speech to a group of teachers that picketed outside Finance Minister Grant Robertson’s electorate office in Wellington.
"When you invest in teachers, you are invested in our students," he said.
The PPTA is seeking pay rises that cover inflation for each year of the collective agreement, not just the first year, which has been offered previously by the Ministry of Education.
Progress in negotiations has been made in other areas like increasing pastoral care for students.
The education ministry's employment relations general manager, Mark Williamson, said in a statement facilitated bargaining, which has been requested from the Employment Relations Authority, is "the best approach to progress to settlement".
"We believe disruption to our learners; their families and communities should be avoided if at all possible.
"We are committed to working through PPTA’s priorities with them," he stated.
Williamson said facilitated bargaining through the ERA provides an independent view of the collective agreement dispute and would see the Government agency provide recommendations for settling the matter.
"In the middle of mediation on the secondary teachers collective last week, the PPTA was balloting its members for further industrial action," Williamson said.
"At that point we were making good progress in a number of areas which would be part of a second offer, after the first offer was rejected in November 2022, but more work is required."
Strike demonstrations were held in locations around the country, but some regions held no events with teachers staying home instead.
"Our teachers are burnt out and we're getting to the end of the term, and it's been a really tough term," one secondary teacher told 1News.
Teachers were concerned about causing student disruption but said the strike action was to help improve the classroom environment for them too.
"We're doing this for our students so hang in there and we will get the job done," a teacher from Tauranga said.
"I'm trying to ensure that this doesn't impact them too much. They've got all the work that they need online but it's not the same as being face to face," a Wellington teacher said.
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