Get in touch with your local MP and share why your school needs more staffing
Late last year primary and area school teachers met to discuss the unfinished business of Kua Tae Te Wā. They identified that workload and wellbeing were the most urgent issues to be addressed. Through these discussions we identified that to fix workload and wellbeing for teachers we need to increase school staffing. That means more staff to provide student support, more specialist roles and more time for teachers to spend with each student.
The current government has committed to world-class inclusive education for New Zealand children. They know that we need to increase staffing in our schools. So, we're asking groups of teachers across the motu to get in touch with their local Labour MPs and ask them to commit to move immediately to introduce the improvements to management and staffing.
Email to your MP:
Kia ora,
We are a group of teachers from xx
The students we work with are incredibly diverse and face a changing and unpredictable future. We want to ensure students receive the support and attention they need to face the world ahead of them.
We know your government recognises these needs too. In the cabinet paper setting out the government's response to the Tomorrow's Schools review you committed to improvements in school management and guidance staffing. These will make a difference. But these changes are four or five years off, and the need is now. We ask that you move immediately to introduce the improvements to management and guidance staffing. Please commit to discussing this with your caucus colleagues and raise it with the Minister of Education. Please let us know how this conversation goes.
Further, we want to work with you to build an understanding of the overall current staffing situation in our schools. You may be aware that many schools are struggling to meet the needs of all their students due to insufficient staffing in our schools. Increases to management and guidance staffing won't be enough to fix the issues we are facing. We need a commitment from the Government to increase the number of teaching staff in our schools to ensure that all children in Aotearoa receive the best possible education.
Through our union, NZEI Te Riu Roa, we have been talking about the staffing issues facing schools around the country. Below is the story of our school and our particular staffing needs.
A little bit about our school and our staffing:
[Your story about how your school and the aspirations you have for your students]
Not having enough staff at our school means:
[Your story about what you feel you don't have the capacity to do or the limitations on achieving due to lack of staffing?]
If we had appropriate staffing at our school that would mean:
[Your story about what staffing changes would help your school achieve the aspirations you have for your students]
We ask that you work with us to address these staffing needs we have outlined so that together we can ensure a bright future for all tamariki of Aotearoa.
Signed by the teaching staff at xx