More than 600 Western Bay of Plenty secondary teachers will attend a paid union meeting on Friday afternoon, during school hours, to discuss a recent collective agreement offer from the government.

PPTA Te Wehengarua Western Bay of Plenty region chairperson Julie Secker says the union had been in negotiations with the government for about six months.

The key things secondary teachers want in a new collective agreement are a salary increase that matches the cost of living, more guidance and pastoral care staff to work with students in need and effective controls on workload.

'Secondary teaching is an amazing and incredibly rewarding job – we are giving rangatahi/youth the knowledge, skills and opportunities they need to live their best adult lives.

'However, we are facing a worsening shortage of subject specialist teachers in our high schools.

'Teachers are leaving and graduates are not considering secondary teaching as a career because other careers pay more and give them a reasonable work/life balance.”

Julie says many schools around the country are struggling to fill vacancies and find day relievers.

She says they need a collective agreement with pay rates and conditions that will keep teachers in the profession and attract graduates into teaching.

'We need more support for the increasing number of students who are really struggling with all kinds of social, emotional and mental health issues that have been exacerbated by Covid.

'Schools desperately need more trained pastoral care and counselling teachers to work with these students and their families before they disengage from school, and we lose them.

'The government has made an offer which seems to fall well short of what the profession needs to thrive. '

Julie says the PPTA national executive has rejected the offer.

'Our members are meeting on Friday to decide what we think of the offer and, if we reject it, what steps we will take to fight for a more satisfactory offer.”

PPTA Te Wehengarua members are legally entitled to two two-hour paid union meetings per year.