Teachers are considering a new Government pay offer this weekend, with the results to determine whether they accept the deal or move towards strike action.

NZEI confirmed members received the offer on Friday afternoon and will vote on it until Monday night.

In a statement released on Saturday, Paul Goonan, a resource teacher of learning and behaviour and the union’s primary teacher negotiation team lead, said members were eager for swift bargaining.

“We’ve asked members to indicate whether they want to accept the offer and go back to the table to finalise it or reject the offer and move to a vote on strike action,” she said.

Goonan said teachers had been asked to consider whether the proposal fairly valued their work and supported their students.

“We will go back into bargaining next week with a clear mandate either way from our members,” she said.

The offer includes improved pay rates but still falls short of the current consumer price index of 2.7 percent. It also does not address the pay equity claim scrapped by the Government in May.

Under the proposal, teachers on steps one to eight of the pay scale would receive flat rate increases of $1,300 this year and $1,200 next year, equating to rises of between 2.7 and 4.1 percent over two years.

Teachers on steps nine and ten would receive a 2.5 percent increase this year and 2.1 percent in 2026.