Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) members want changes to the education system - and a pay rise, president Angela Roberts says.
The union began its annual conference in Wellington today and conference papers show a pay rise is the main goal when secondary teachers collective agreement bargaining starts in May next year.
Ms Roberts would not say how much the union wanted, only that teachers needed to be paid more.
"We want this to be the number one thing that graduates want to do," she said.
"Remuneration is a part of that. We want to make sure we don't have recruitment or retention issues in the future.
"It would be nice if we could at least keep up with inflation, and it's very clear that we haven't managed to do that over the last few years."
The union was also considering lobbying for changes to the school zoning and funding systems, Ms Roberts said.