Teacher shortage hits home

Three staff off, no relievers in sight and two classes split across the school: Friday was a pretty standard day at Green Meadows Intermediate in Manurewa, Auckland.

One day earlier last week was even worse, with five staff off.

The south Auckland school was able to get two relief teachers in but that still left three classes without teachers.

The students in these classes were divvied up across the school, an extra six children in each room. ‘‘That’s become our new norm,’’ said principal Cathy Chalmers. ‘‘There hasn’t been a day this week that we haven’t had classes split.’’

At Auckland’s Newton Central School, it is a similar story: classes were split twice last week.

So what does that mean for students’ education?

It reduces the school to a ‘‘babysitting service’’, principal Riki Teteina said.

‘‘They’re not going to have a structured education experience if they’re shoved into another class.’’

It is not just the children sent to other classes who suffer, either; it is also hard on the class that accommodates them, and on the teacher suddenly faced with a large group who may not be familiar with their teaching style or programme, Teteina said.

Splitting classes has become more common as relief teachers have become harder to come by.

For the first time ever, relieving agency Oasis Education is declining requests due to ‘‘100 per cent teacher unavailability’’, it said in an email to school leaders.

‘‘After almost 15 years in this business I have never known the supply of relief teachers to be so critically low,’’ chief executive Martin Strang wrote in the email.

This reflects the results of a survey by teachers’ union New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI), which revealed 90 per cent of primary and intermediate principals were struggling to find relievers. As well as splitting classes, principals reported senior leaders stepping in to teach and teachers coming to work while sick.

This was common practice in secondary schools, too, a survey of secondary principals by the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) showed.

In some cases schools reported using students to provide relief cover, leaving senior classes unsupervised, sending some students home, or closing entirely. ‘‘There is no doubt that this is failing our students,’’ said PPTA president Jack Boyle.

The principals were in agreement: unless something drastic happened, the problems would only get worse – and they are already at breaking point.

‘‘The ministry has to recognise it’s a crisis,’’ Chalmers said.

‘‘This is failing our students.’’

PPTA president Jack Boyle