The Government of New Zealand is being urged to take immediate action to address the ongoing secondary teacher shortage crisis. This call to action comes from Chris Abercrombie, the acting president of the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA Te Wehengarua).
Acknowledging the Problem
Chris Abercrombie commends the Ministry of Education for acknowledging in their recent teacher supply report that the current initiatives to spread teachers are not enough. Recognising that we are beyond the point of applying band-aids is a crucial step towards making real progress in addressing our national supply problem.
The Need for Proactive Measures
However, Abercrombie also calls for the Ministry to be more proactive in measuring and managing recruitment needs by subject. The report does not indicate how many teachers are needed by subject, how many are currently available, and how many are projected to be available in the future. A surplus of teachers in one subject area does not meet the needs of schools and students and can lead to long-term problems when schools are pressured to appoint teachers to positions that their subject qualifications are not suited to.
The Attraction of Secondary Teaching
Secondary teaching is a rewarding job, but it’s becoming less attractive due to factors such as relative wages, workload pressures, and ongoing disruption. These factors combine to make secondary teaching less appealing to potential teachers and to teachers reconsidering their careers.
The Government’s Role
The Government must ensure that our Initial Teacher Education centres are full of well-qualified and highly motivated new graduates across the subject areas we need. There needs to be a fundamental shift in how the government approaches salaries and conditions and support for teaching and learning and staffing levels in secondary and composite schools. This approach is crucial, especially considering the recent developments in teacher training. The revamping of teacher training in New Zealand has been identified as a significant step towards addressing the broader issues in education. By aligning training with the current demands and challenges, we can better prepare educators to tackle the complexities of the modern teaching landscape.
The Government Needs to Act
Chris Abercrombie hopes that the Government will give serious consideration to the recommendations of the 2023 Arbitration Panel and the findings of the 2021 SPC secondary school staffing report. It’s time for the government to take decisive action to address the secondary teacher shortage crisis in Aotearoa.
