Teaching still popular option in Waikato
Waikato is bucking a national trend of fewer teachers in training with an intake jump of 10 per cent this year.
National figures showed that, between 2010 and 2016, enrolments in initial teacher education dropped from 14,585 fulltime student equivalents to 8895.
Early childhood education teacher trainees went from 6760 to 3615, primary teacher trainees 5740 to 4065, and secondary teacher trainees down from 1865 to 1120.
But Waikato University had a year-on-year increase for primary and secondary education between 2016 and 2018.
Waikato University associate dean teacher education Bev Cooper said the university is one of the, if not the largest, providers of teacher education in the country.
‘‘We provide many diverse pathways that cater to a lot of people and we are perceived as a quality provider. People are coming here as a choice.
‘‘We are well known for our strong practicum programmes and we work closely with schools and early childhood centres to support this.’’
Silverdale Normal School in Hamilton takes on teachers during their training and deputy principal Nic Wilson said they had no trouble filling the slots.
‘‘We had a space for 16 and we filled that space for 16 students, so I think there is a lot of students still coming through the process.’’
New teachers Farah Kelly, 31, completed the Bachelor of Education and Tim Lind, a Master of Education at Waikato University.
Talk of no jobs, being overworked and low pay were some of the issues they believed might put people off teaching.
Lind believed there were plenty of teaching jobs in the area after graduation, but the pool was smaller for beginning teachers and there were also a lot of applicants.
‘‘There’s a lot of competition coming out of study and trying to find your first job,’’ he said.
‘‘But when you are organised, have a passion for learning and children then the extra work makes it worth it,’’ Kelly added.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins claimed the national drop in teacher trainees showed the previous government had failed schools and teachers.
‘‘The numbers are staggering,’’ Hipkins said. ‘‘It’s a shocking failure of planning by the previous National government that has left an immediate shortage of teachers.
‘‘But more worryingly, a ticking time bomb for schools as baby boomer teachers retire and too few incoming teachers coming through to take over.’’