Union fears crisis in classrooms

A year 13 student was brought in to look after a class as New Zealand’s ‘‘unprecedented’’ teacher deficit worsens, a teachers’ union claims.

The New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) is campaigning for the problem to be urgently addressed, with warnings that the situation will only worsen if action is not taken.

This comes as claims of big or cancelled classes have led the Government to order the Ministry of Education to investigate.

The Education Gazette yesterday had 21 teaching vacancies in Wellington secondary schools, and 172 nationwide.

The union argued there were specialised classes being taught by unqualified teachers, multilevel NCEA classes being taught in single lessons, and fewer trainee teachers signing up – and that was just in Wellington.

Nationwide, it said, one in five teachers was older than 60 and planned to retire soon. There were 40 per cent less trainee teachers than eight years ago, 40 per cent of new teachers left within five years, and principals admitted employing staff they would not normally hire.

The ministry has cast doubt on some of the union’s figures.

‘‘These factors are why we are now dealing with an unprecedented teacher shortage, and they will cause the shortages to worsen if we do not adequately address this now,’’ PPTA Wellington chairman Ahmad Osama said.

The union is currently in collective negotiations and, while

better pay rates were one aspect needed to attract more teachers, other factors such as work conditions and class sizes played a part, Osama said.

Union president Jack Boyle said he knew of one school – which he would not name – where a year 13 student was brought in to look after a junior class. He also knew of senior classes where there were no available teachers.

The shortage of teachers meant the pool of relievers had largely been brought into teaching fulltime, so there were very few relievers available, he said.

The lack of trainee teachers

dated back to 2009. ‘‘Our demographics are shifting to the point we are just facing disaster.’’

While vacancies were down on the same time in 2018, this was largely because schools were ditching specialised subjects, Boyle said.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins said claims of big and cancelled classrooms were ‘‘concerning if true’’. ‘‘I will ask the ministry to investigate. It should not be happening.’’

Trainee teacher numbers dropped by 40 per cent while wages stalled and workloads increased under the previous National government. ‘‘The coalition Government can’t correct that overnight – it takes at least three years to train a teacher,’’ Hipkins said.

National’s education spokeswoman, Nikki Kaye, said teachers were looking for evidence that the Government was taking their concerns seriously. Continuing to blame the previous administration was not what teachers wanted.

Hipkins rejected that argument, saying the Government had offered teachers a good settlement in collective negotiations, and was investing $40 million in encouraging former teachers back and getting teachers from ‘‘like-minded’’ countries.

The Government was also working with teachers and principals on reforms, including improving planning and teacher forecasts. The number of trainees was already increasing.

‘‘I will ask the [Education] Ministry to investigate.’’ Education Minister Chris Hipkins