More people choose teaching as a career
More people are choosing to train as teachers but there are still hundreds of vacancies across the country.
More than 4300 domestic students started teacher training in 2018, an increase of 400 in a 12-month period, Ministry of Education (MoE) Early Learning and Student Achievement deputy secretary Ellen MacGregor-Reid said.
‘‘The 2018 data shows more people are training to be teachers, more teachers are entering the workforce and more teachers are staying in the profession,’’ she said.
The total number of teachers increased by 1004 (672 in primary and 332 in secondary).
The vast majority stayed in the profession. ‘‘This includes over 94 per cent of teachers and over 80 per cent of beginning teachers still working in the profession after three years,’’ MacGregor-Reid said.
The increase in teacher numbers has been praised by teacher unions, however, Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) president Jack Boyle said the figures should be taken with caution.
Primary and secondary schools faced an aging teacher population and growing student population, he said. An imminent population increase would put further pressure on shortages.
The ministry needed to provide data so schools could anticipate which regions, subjects and school types needed support to deal with issues that could exacerbate the teacher shortage.
‘‘Is it tremendous? Not at all. There’s a lot more that needs to be done.’’
The Ministry of Education had estimated it would need an additional 850 foreign teachers to ensure schools were fully staffed this year. So far just 283 teachers have been accepted into those roles with another 11,900 expressing interest.
A search of the Education Gazette yesterday found 581 vacancies – 309 in primary and intermediate, 232 in secondary, and 40 in composite and area schools.
Boyle said the vacancies were ‘‘worrying’’ because it meant someone had left the position.
New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa president Lynda Stuart welcomed that there had been ‘‘some growth’’ in people training to be teachers.
‘‘We need to be ensuring these people want to stay in the profession.
‘‘There is a growing number of children in our education system, so we do need to see that growth [in teacher numbers].’’
MacGregor-Reid said the ministry would continue to work on initiatives to ensure more qualified teachers were in classrooms.
* Retention figures represent regular teachers who remained on the payroll.