$5m for 90 teachers in difficult areas

The Government will commit more than $5 million over four years to fund more teachers in priority subjects.

Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced the funding, which will come from operating budgets, as part of a pre-budget announcement at Auckland’s Onehunga High School yesterday.

The money will expand teacher training programme Teach First NZ, which has been running since 2013, to allow for 90 more teachers. The funding will provide two cohorts of 45 participants each, starting in 2018.

Kaye said Teach First NZ was used to recruit high quality teaching graduates in subjects that were hard to staff such as maths, science and technology. There would also be a focus on te reo.

To date, 42 per cent of Teach First NZ graduates teach maths, science or technology, and all of them teach in schools with some of the biggest challenges.

According to National’s plan, graduates would be trained to teach in schools with a high proportion of Maori and Pasifika students, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Kaye also announced measures aimed at enhancing teacher quality and supply.

’’Today’s announcement comes alongside the creation of a new induction and mentoring programme to support provisionally registered teachers to become fully registered before their certificate expires, and the lifting of a freeze on new teacher education programmes from 2018.’’

The measures include $2m for the Education Council to create an induction and mentoring programme and removing costs which prevent some teachers working towards full certification. The council would also investigate reducing the costs of Teacher Education Refresher courses which, at around $4000 at present, can be prohibitive for some teachers.