Tertiary Education Minister Anne Tolley says there was no meaning intended when she read teacher union leaders a story about a rat happy with his lot in life.
An email between Post-Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) staff describes bemusement at Tolley's reading of The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley to its executive meeting earlier this month.
The email says story's message that "you have to be happy with a lot less" caused concern and in some cases outrage.
Tolley encouraged teachers to "think about the good things that we have in this country and be happy with what we've got", the email says.
Asked on Tuesday why she read the union executive the story, Tolley says she liked the story and wanted to share it.
"It wasn't intended to be (patronising). It was meant to be light-hearted," she told reporters.
"I was saying to them 'look this is a really good book'... There was no underlying message, I was trying to share with them a book I had come across in a visit to a school and I thought they might be interested in it."
A description of the book on a children's book website says Riley was born happy, loved the simple things in life - like munching down the occasional slug - and was never troubled.
He fell in love with the first girl rat he met, had many children and died young but with no regrets.
The message was hard for some to swallow. Tolley's relationship with teachers has been fraught with concern over national standards leading to league tables.
