Secondary teachers hoping for realistic government offer

<h2>National action has been pencilled in for April 3&comma; the <b><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;info&period;scoop&period;co&period;nz&sol;Post&lowbar;Primary&lowbar;Teachers'&lowbar;Association" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Post Primary Teachers&&num;8217&semi; Association<&sol;a><&sol;b> has revealed&period; <&sol;h2>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We have been negotiating with government for a settlement to our collective agreement since August last year and our members are running out of patience&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said PPTA president Jack Boyle&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>We hope to receive a realistic offer from the government for teachers to consider on 3 April&comma; but if we don’t&comma; we will use the day to publicly protest the lack of progress&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The government has made three offers which members described as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;not touching the sides” of addressing the issues that secondary schools face&period; We sincerely hope the government moves to seriously address the teacher supply and excessive workload issues that form the basis for PPTA’s claim&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is an unprecedented shortage of secondary teachers&comma; leaving classes without specialist teachers&comma; and a drop of 40 percent in the number of people completing teacher training in recent years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Jacinda Ardern’s government knows the situation in secondary schools isn’t business as usual” says Boyle&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Teachers want to be working with students in our classrooms&period; We don’t want to be put in the position where we have to take industrial action&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If we have no other options we will&period; We will take action so that our students will have the educational <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;schoolnews&period;co&period;nz&sol;2015&sol;10&sol;developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view&sol;" title&equals;"opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">opportunities<&sol;a> that they need and deserve&comma; with great&comma; well-trained and well supported teachers to provide those opportunities&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;