Schools using foreigners’ fees to staff classrooms

Number of ‘extra’ teachers paid by schools has risen by more than half in four years

Schools are increasingly using their own funds to hire teachers to supplement those paid for centrally by the Government, new figures reveal. The number of “extra” teachers paid by schools has shot up by more than 50 per cent in the past four years.

A principals’ group suspects some schools are increasingly using income from international students to hire the extra teachers and keep class sizes down and subjects on offer.

At Auckland’s Rangitoto College, principal David Hodge said fees from international students covered 40 per cent of day-to-day running costs and paid for 17 extra teachers.

“High-decile schools would have to dramatically cut services if there was any major downturn in the [international student] market,” he said. “So much so that the schools would almost be unrecognisable.”

The Ministry of Education tells schools how many teachers it will allocate based on the roll, with associated salaries paid centrally.

Schools can employ more teachers but need to use locally raised funds or school operations grants, which are expected to cover day-to-day operating costs.

Full time equivalent teacher numbers funded in this way by state and state-integrated secondary schools had been fairly steady since 2008, but increased from 1110 in 2013 to 1717 this year — a 54 per cent jump.

The Green Party, which secured the figures through a parliamentary question, says not all schools can attract foreign students or raise funds.

Its education spokeswoman, Catherine Delahunty, said she knew of principals who regularly attended education fairs overseas to tout for students to keep class sizes down.

“The Government needs to fund the education system so that international students are nice to have, rather than a way that you can keep your class sizes and teaching staff to reasonable levels.”

Secondary Principals Council chair Allan Vester said he suspected the figures showed that schools with international student income were using it to employ more teachers.

That was done to maintain or reduce class sizes, and also keep offering more borderline subjects.

Schools’ ability to do that varied hugely, and that raised the issue of equity, he said. Another concern was what would happen if there was a downturn in the international market.

Hodge said Rangitoto had a substantial contingency fund to cope with any short-term downturn, and drew students from a variety of markets — its 240 full time equivalent foreign pupils are from 30 countries.

As well as receiving less money as a decile-10 school, Hodge said large schools such as Rangitoto were disadvantaged by the staffing formula used to determine how many teachers the ministry would pay for.

A ministry and PPTA review into staffing in 2012 made recommendations including that the formula be reviewed in relation to larger schools. That has not happened.

Between 2013 and 2015, international enrolments in secondary schools rose by 7 per cent to 15,408.

Kim Shannon, the ministry’s head of sector enablement and support, said that increase could be one reason for the figures the Greens cited. Another was because schools had more discretionary funding, with spending on state and state-integrated schools rising by 34 per cent between 2008 and 2015.

He said New Zealand’s child-teacher ratios were among the lowest in the OECD.