All tamariki deserve an education where they can learn, feel included and access learning support when they need it.  However, the Government is taking public education in the wrong direction and tamariki are being left behind.   Schools, kindergartens, and early childhood centres have faced cuts to school lunches, te reo Māori programmes, beginning teacher pay, and literacy and te reo jobs.   Some schools have to fundraise to help pay for teacher aides, whose support in the classroom is invaluable for all students.   Many tamariki sit on learning support waitlists for months due to inadequate learning support staffing.   Attacks on quality early childhood education and scrapping of pay equity claims for our lowest paid in education make it clear the Government does not value the work of education professionals nor our children’s learning.   Primary and early childhood education teachers, learning support workers, principals and support staff, kohanga reo, wharekura and whānau are coming together to seek a new dawn in education.   Join us in demanding better for our tamariki!  Kimi Haeata. Back Our Future!  Nā te aha e pātai pēnei ai: Kei te tamaiti te anamata o te mātauranga ki te ako, tautokohia. Kua hē te haere ā te Kāwanatanga nei, ko ngā mokopuna te utu. Kua poroa te pūtea tunu kai, ngā hōtaka Māori, oti rā ngā utu o te kaiwhakaako hou, kaiwhakaako reo matatini , reo Māori anō hoki ki ngā kura. Ka riro mā te kura te pūtea e whakaemiemi kia āhei te kaiāwhina tautoko me ōna rawa ki te tauawhi tamariki. Nā te kore kaimahi umanga mātauranga, tokomaha ngā tamariki e tatari tonu ana.  E kore te Kāwanatanga e mārama ana ki te wāriu o te tangata e matatau ana ki te mātauranga , heoi oti ki te ao ako o te tamaiti, ka puta ko ēnei whakawhiu, ka tauria te whare kōhungahunga, i whakakorehia ngā kerēme mana taurite mō te hunga rawakore. Ko te huihuinga ā te whānau me te ao mātauranga ā Te Riu Roa e haere ake nei, ki te rapu i te haeata e kimi nei tātou. Nau mai haere mai, whakapiri mai, ko ngā tamariki te take. Kimi Haeata!

By signing your name to the open letter, you are showing support for these workers as an essential resource for ākonga and schools, and for a quality public education in Aotearoa, New Zealand.