Students pay the price for a cheap political deal

"High school students are now beginning to pay the price for the Labour Government's cheap political deal to end the teachers strike before the last election," says National Party Education spokesman Bill English.

He's responding to concerns from secondary principals who say senior students will be left unsupervised or sent home early as schools struggle to meet non-contact clauses in the collective contract for teachers.

"Trevor Mallard signed a deal with the teachers that is stealing education from our kids," Mr English says.

"He agreed to less time in the classroom for teachers but failed to give schools more money or any more staff to fill the holes. "Mr Mallard must have known that schools would need to either raise more funds from parents, or cut teaching time to honour the deal that he and the unions agreed to.

"There could also be worse to come," warns Mr English.

"Teachers are already in union meetings to settle their strategy for the next pay round.

"I understand teachers will be looking to lift the non-contact time by at least another hour a week, on top of the extra that schools are now struggling with. "Teachers are the meat in this sandwich.

"They need non-contact time away from their students, but the Minister can't leave schools selling raffle tickets to put teachers in front of classrooms," says Mr English.

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