Trades shortage hammers schools
Manawatu¯ schools are desperate for more workshop and IT teachers, and are getting creative to fill the gaps.
‘‘The technology area is a real area of concern, and I know we’re not the only school,’’ said Palmerston North Boys’ High School rector David Bovey.
The school needs six workshop teachers, but have four. To fill the gaps, it’s signed up two people granted authority to teach without the normal qualifications.
The pair were ‘‘highly knowledgeable’’ in their trades and being mentored in teaching by experienced teachers, Bovey said.
Without them, eight classes would miss out on technology altogether.
The school had advertised twice and a recruitment agent had sought teachers from the UK, Canada and Ireland, but with no luck.
Previously, those with a trade only had to train for one year to become a teacher, the same as for people with a degree, but now they have to train for the full four years, Bovey said.
‘‘Tradesmen can’t afford to stop working for four years. Last year, there was an incredibly small number of technology teachers trained right through New Zealand.’’
There was a real risk practical technology classes could disappear from many schools, he said.
‘‘If we couldn’t offer it, it would be really sad. You can’t have a boys’ school without woodwork and metalwork.
‘‘And if they love it, it can be the start of a career. We’re going to be incredibly short of tradespeople in the next decades. This is only going to make it worse.’’
The school is planning to work with a new training scheme that could help it employ experienced tradespeople while they train.
IT is another area the school has trouble recruiting, and it had drafted science and maths teachers into these areas.
The wider teacher shortage was not reaching secondary schools in Manawatu¯ , said Peter Brooks, chairman of the Central District Secondary Principals’ Association and headmaster of Freyberg High School, but getting teachers in IT and workshop technologies was a big problem locally.
‘‘Teachers are falling so far behind on their pay scales, so it’s getting harder to attract them. They’ve really come out of step with what people who have gone through those degrees in other careers have got.’’
Manawatu¯ had a recruitment advantage because of teacher training at Massey University, which meant new teachers were already in the region at the end of their qualification.
New Zealand Educational Institute representative Liam Rutherford said the teaching shortage looked different in different parts of New Zealand.
In Manawatu¯ , there were now fewer applicants for jobs, so schools had smaller pools to choose from to find the right people. There were fewer relievers, so classes were split between other teachers more often.
NZEI is holding members’ meetings throughout the country to discuss the ‘‘crisis in education’’, including recruiting and retaining teachers and inadequate resources.
About 90 per cent of Palmerston North members were attending one of four meetings happening this week and next, but arrangements had been made for teaching cover so classes were not disrupted.
‘‘We’ve got a 40 per cent decrease in the number of people wanting to become teachers, over the last six years, at a time when we’re about to see our largest cohort of teachers – the baby boomers – leave the profession, and that doesn’t count the teachers who are leaving because of overwork.’’