Hundreds of Christchurch teachers meet to decide on action

4 December 2012
Immediate Release

Hundreds of Christchurch teachers meet to decide on action

In what’s expected to be the biggest meeting of its kind in the city, hundreds of teachers in Christchurch will meet tomorrow to decide what action to take over the Government’s radical education reforms.

NZEI Te Riu Roa National President Ian Leckie says this action is about protecting Christchurch children and their communities from unnecessary disruption and radical reform.

“The Government needs to put children and their families back at the centre of planning. It needs to stop its bad process and listen to Christchurch communities.

“We need to send a message to the Government that it is not acceptable to use Christchurch children as guinea-pigs for an education agenda that the Government would clearly like to roll out across the entire country. This includes mega-sized schools, double-bunking and charter schools.

“Amongst the concerns from teachers and school communities is a lack of any real consultation over the proposals and the unrealistic timeframe imposed on schools to respond.

“There’s also serious concern about the Ministry of Education basing its planning on wrong or poor quality information.

“Teachers will decide tomorrow what sort of industrial action to take in order to ensure that the Government gets a clear message that it needs to listen to Christchurch.”

The meeting will be at 4 pm, 5 December at the Christchurch Riding for the Disabled Indoor Arena, AMP Showgrounds, 61 Wigram Road, Christchurch.

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