Parents will celebrate no more teacher only days in term time

David Seymour announced:

“Schools will have to play their part in setting a good example as well. This means not taking teacher-only days during term time. Under existing regulations, and terms in the union contracts, teacher-only days are only legally allowed to be held out of term time, unless authorised by the Minister of Education. 

Teacher only days are important to have. The question is when should they be held.

I have no problem with teacher only days during term times for early childhood services because many are open 50 out of 52 weeks a year, so there is no choice.

However primary schools have 12 to 13 weeks of school holidays. Four of those weeks are for teachers to take annual leave, but that leaves eight to nine weeks where schools are closed but teachers are expected to be working. It is not unreasonable that any all-staff meetings and training take place during those eight to nine weeks, so parents don’t have to take annual leave from their jobs to look after their kids.

I wasn’t aware that teacher-only days during term time was meant to be the exception, not the norm. Good to see that enforced.