Teaching needs fresh branding
I’ve got a challenge for marketers out there: rebrand the teaching profession to make it attractive again to our best and brightest as a profession they want to join. As kids started returning to school this week, the headlines were all about the shortage of around 280 teachers to actually teach them. Where did it go so wrong? When did being a teacher lose its allure to the point where our leaders are left in a lastminute international scramble to fill jobs?
The Ministry of Education has just run an ‘‘unprecedented’’ international recruitment campaign, hiring 220 teachers from other countries to fill roles. But it’s clearly not an easy sell to get people into teaching or we wouldn’t have a shortage.
Most people would say pay teachers more, lighten the workload and you’ll get more people applying. That’s true, but it’s not the whole story. Some people seek out jobs where the rewards are not just financial; the kind of things teaching has in spades.
As an outsider, I’ve got to say, one of the first things you notice about teaching is that there’s nothing much positive in the media. A quick scan of news headlines shows the bulk of stories focus on strikes, staff shortages, shake-ups, burnout and pay disputes. Who in their right mind would want to join a profession where that’s what they’ve got to look forward to?
Unions and the Government both need to take a broader view of their roles and consider the reputation of the career they both serve, and stop the public argy-bargy that plays out in negative headlines.
The ministry’s clearly put some grunt and budget into marketing campaigns over the years. The latest is a touching and worthy effort focusing on how teachers make a meaningful difference to young people’s lives, strengthen communities and build better futures.
It’s a variation on a theme of most teaching campaigns. But, let’s face it, the campaigns don’t seem to be working. The number of people training to be teachers has dropped by 40 per cent in six years, from about 14,500 to 8900. Even Education Minister Chris Hipkins described the figure as ‘‘staggering’’. So a bit more creativity and, no doubt, budget needs to go into marketing.
What about focusing on some of the other positives? I’m no expert, but my teacher friends tell me that the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) is actually pretty world-leading in its approach.
The NZC talks about developing young people who are confident and creative, connected, and actively involved. Their learning should engage and challenge them, be forward-looking, inclusive, and affirming of New Zealand’s unique identity.
All this around values which include excellence, curiosity and innovation, community participation, valuing diversity and equity, ecological sustainability and integrity.
Applying Ma¯ ori principles of Ako – which describes teaching and learning as a relationship where the educator is also learning from the student – is unique to New Zealand and something that more schools are looking at.
These days, New Zealand schools are not just about exams and preparing a workforce, but about supporting children to become ethical citizens. To achieve these kinds of outcomes, schools will not only need enough teachers, but great teachers.
The Government has developed a pretty strong and compelling vision in the current curriculum about where it wants New Zealand education to be. But to get that across to the right people it’s going to need to think again about how it promotes teaching and to whom. Bottom line, they need to build a better, and stronger, brand.