The Ministry of Education is encouraging primary teachers and principals to carefully consider the offer made last Thursday to reach settlement or to return to the table to negotiate within the $698m package.

The offer means that most teachers would get a pay rise of between $9,500 and $11,000 extra within 24 months.

Outside the collective bargaining discussions, the Government has been addressing workload and teacher supply issues, says Secretary for Education Iona Holsted.

"​​​​​​​This has included the removal of National Standards in response to teachers' claims it was a large driver of workload, and a $40 million investment to increase teacher supply to fill vacancies. More than 3,500 teachers overseas have now registered an interest with educational recruiters in returning or migrating to New Zealand.

"The recent learning support announcement which committed $217 million for 600 new learning support coordinator roles will also help ease teacher workload and support parents and children. On top of Budget 2018 funding, that brings the total new investment in learning support this year to $500 million."

Additionally, the Education workforce strategy being developed is intended to answer: "what is it that a teacher and only a teacher needs to do?".

This is the first time that teachers have been asked to be part of a conversation about what the future workforce needs to look like in terms of executive, analytical, or other skills needed to lead and manage schools in the 21st century, says Iona.

"This is about freeing up time for teachers to teach.

"Settling pay negotiations with the NZEI is important and we remain open to negotiating exactly how the settlement package is made up. However, as the Government has made clear, there won't be further increases in the amount of money available to settle the claim."

Key offer features:

All teachers will benefit from pay rises of 9.3 percent by 2020; and

All teachers have access to a higher step of either $82,992 or $85,481 depending on their qualifications by 2020; and

64 percent of all teachers (nearly 16,000) will achieve the new maximum in the next 24 months; and

All other teachers will progress annually to these new maximum rates

The attached table explains the increases to the maximum rates primary teachers will get as a result of the latest offer.

Further information on the latest offer to settle the claim can be found here

Information for parents about the strike action and supervision of children can be found here

Guidance for Boards of Trustees about the their responsibilities during a strike can be found here