Primary school teachers and principals will walk off the job for the second time in three months next week.
Teachers and principals rejected the Ministry of Education's latest pay offer in September after they went on strike in August.
In a last-ditch effort to stop the strikes, the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) entered urgent facilitation talks with the Ministry, but the meetings failed to resolve the dispute.
Teachers confirmed on Friday that the week-long rolling strike would go ahead.
More than 460,000 primary and intermediate pupils will be affected as almost 30,000 teachers and principals down tools.
Here's what parents need to know.
WHEN ARE TEACHERS STRIKING?
The rolling strikes will start in Auckland and end in Wellington. Teachers will strike for one day during the week, depending on where in the country they are.
Monday 12 November: Wider Auckland region
Tuesday 13 November: North Island (except Auckland and Wellington)
Wednesday 14 November: Wider Christchurch region (including Ellesmere, Ashley, Mid-Canterbury, Malvern, Hurunui and Aronui Tomua Waitaha)
Thursday 15 November: South Island (except wider Christchurch)
Friday 16 November: Wider Wellington region
If you're unsure what area your school is in, check it here.
WHAT ARE SCHOOLS DOING?
The majority of primary and intermediate schools will be closed.
Schools are expected to supervise, but not teach, children who attend on strike day. They should close only if they will not have enough staff to provide supervision, advice from the New Zealand School Trustees' Association says.
A total of 1479 schools closed for the one-day strike in August – that's three-quarters of state primary schools.
Area schools will not be affected because they have a different collective agreement.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR PARENTS?
Parents are being warned to make alternative childcare plans for their children.
Many before and after-school care providers will be extending their hours to cover the full day.
Kelly Club runs programmes nationwide and will be providing services at schools that ask for them, but would not run services at any school that asked them not to, a spokesperson said.
SKids operates at 170 locations across New Zealand. Plans for the teachers' strike would vary based on the requirements of each host school, a spokesperson said.
Chill Out Kids' Programmes is running full-day programmes in Auckland, Palmerston North, Whangarei and Nelson.
Across the country, sports clubs and community centres are offering one-day programmes, including The Martial Arts Academy in Tauranga, Auckland Netball, Wellington's Pride Lands and Tri Star Gymnastics in Auckland.
Most full-day programmes will set parents back $45 to $70.
WHAT ARE BUSINESSES DOING?
Most businesses are open to providing flexible work environments, Michael Barnett, chief executive of Auckland's Chamber of Commerce, said.
Working flexibly – whether that means from home, different hours, or taking children into the workplace – would need to be negotiated between employer and employee.
Canterbury Chamber of Commerce general manager Leeann Watson agreed, saying businesses are "well and truly" used to the kind of disruption caused by short-term industrial action.
Employees at the Chamber would be allowed to bring their children to work with them if they didn't have other childcare arrangements, she said.
However, both acknowledged that some industries would be more impacted than others.
"If the flexibility isn't there, it affects income," Barnett said.
WHAT ARE TEACHERS DOING ON STRIKE DAY?
There are marches, rallies, pickets and picnics planned for teachers and supporters during the strike.
In Wellington, teachers will march to Civic Square for a rally at midday on the final day of the rolling strikes.
Find the full list of events here.
About 20 per cent of teachers are not NZEI union members and will not be on strike.
WHAT'S BEEN OFFERED TO TEACHERS?
Under revised offers tabled in September, entry-level teachers would have seen their starting salary lift from $47,980 to an eventual starting point of $53,429 in 2020.
Teachers at the top end of the scale would have staggered salary rises from $75,949 to $82,992 in 2020.
Primary principals where rolls were under 100 students were offered a 3 per cent base salary increase each year for three years from the date of settlement.
Principals of schools with more than 100 students would have seen base salary increases of 4.5 per cent in the first year after settlement, followed by 4.5 per cent and 4.4 per cent increases for the following two years respectively.
A new offer made on Thursday included a new top pay bracket and the partial removal of a cap on qualifications for some teachers from 2020.
The union has previously criticised what it believed was the ministry's failure to reduce heavy workloads and class sizes in its offers.