Striking secondary teachers say the government's pay offer is despicable.
At pickets around the country, members of the Post Primary Teachers Association told RNZ they were frustrated and disappointed.
The one-day strike is due to pay talks stalled over a government offer of a 1 percent rise each year for three years, and a doubling of the number of days teachers can be called back to work when schools are closed.
The government is urging the PPTA to come back to negotiations.
James Weston, one of the protesters in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen
But a protester at Wellington Railway Station, James Weston, said teachers were just exasperated.
"As the media have said already, the worst offer in about 30 years, why? Why make such a terrible offer to teachers right now, there is plenty of money there to be used. The government will come up with the excuse of 'oh it's simply there's not enough money' - well maybe you shouldn't have given away $15 billion in tax cuts that have achieved absolutely nothing for society."
At Wellington Railway Station, Wellington Girls' College teacher Anna Scadden said she was disappointed by the government's "really, really low pay offer", especially when the government was changing the curriculum and the secondary school qualification system.
"It's a pretty despicable acknowledgement of our expertise. They can't expect us to implement new educational reform under an effective pay cut," she said.
Scadden said schools were struggling to find enough qualified teachers to staff their classrooms and that was clear evidence that teachers were under-paid.
"Regardless of whether people think we're paid too much, paid too little, get too many holidays, we don't have enough us."
Protesters in Wellington. Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
Another Wellington protester described the 1 percent offer as insulting saying it was well below inflation and effectively a cut to teachers' pay.
Another man said such a low offer made it very difficult to encourage people to become teachers.
"We just want to be appreciated in the work that we do, we're just trying to support our tamariki and we want the best outcome for them and the best outcome is teachers that feel supported in their spaces," a woman protesting in Wellington said.
The protest in Christchurch. Photo: RNZ / Nathan McKinnon
In Christchurch, teacher Marcelle Leo'o said the government was trying to paint teachers as villains.
"We're the ones that are actually out there, teaching, caring, loving our tamariki, past and present, and yet we're the ones that are painted with the black paint. So I really don't understand where this government is coming from, we're fighting for a reason and it's not just money, it's a system that is going to be supportive of our tamariki."
Leo'o said teachers were leaving the profession in droves.
"We put in an application for funding to help with mental health awareness for our students, that was declined and now we're also psychologists, we're doing jobs that we're not specifically trained to do - therefore we're under stress."
Leo'o said she felt like she had to choose between her job and her family.
Another Christchurch protester said he would rather be in the classroom than striking and taking a day's pay cut to stand in the cold.
"We want the government to be on our side but that's just not what it seems like at the moment. So we're sorry but we've got to do this for the students today and the students in 10 years from now."
The PPTA said if the government did not come up with a better offer, from next month its members would start refusing to teach different year levels on different days - action known as rostering home.
A family of secondary school teachers stand at the intersection of Universal Drive and Lincoln Road in Henderson. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
In West Auckland, about 70 people protested in Henderson. An RNZ reporter on the scene said they received a lot of support with tooting from passersby. A police car and ambulance also showed their support by blaring their sirens as they drove past.
One protester, who declined to be named, said her sign "I can't afford daycare for my dog" said it all.
There was also a family of teachers protesting in Henderson - with the husband, wife and mother all on the picket line.
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