• The Bay of Plenty could face a shortage of 180 primary and 30 secondary teachers this year.
• Ōpōtiki School struggles to attract teachers, citing housing issues and recent negative headlines.
• The Government invested $53 million to grow teacher numbers in Budget 2024.

The Bay of Plenty could be short of 180 primary school teachers and 30 secondary school teachers this year, according to Ministry of Education projections.

One rural school says no one in New Zealand has applied for a teacher position, while another says it struggles with a shortage of relief teachers.

The ministry’s latest teacher demand-and-supply report - released on February 21 - said the Bay of Plenty, Auckland and Waikato were experiencing high teacher demand due to growing school rolls from population growth and net migration.

The supply of teachers was expected to increase but it was “insufficient” to keep up with growing demand due to increased classroom release time for teachers and roll growth.

The report projected schools could be short by 1250 teachers nationally this year.

NZME previously reported that most schools in Tauranga and Rotorua are projected to grow in 2025.

‘We struggle to attract people’

Ōpōtiki School principal Tony Howe said he may have to teach again because of the area’s teacher shortage.

“We struggle to attract people,” he said.

Three staff retired last year.

Pay was not the problem because he believed teaching was “quite well paid”.

He was recruiting for a permanent, part-time learning support co-ordinator which he thought would be a “quite attractive [role] to someone who’s in semi-retirement”.

“We’ve had no one apply and that’s been advertised for a couple of weeks ... ”

A vacancy for a teacher had “lots of overseas interest but no New Zealand interest”, he said.

Asked why it could be difficult to recruit in Ōpōtiki, Howe said finding housing was a “big issue” in the small town.

He also said Ōpōtiki had “hit the headlines for the wrong reasons” recently for “murders ... and gangs and whatnot”.

On February 1, police launched a homicide investigation after a man died in a “violent altercation” in Ōpōtiki.

“It’s having an impact upon people wanting to move here.”

Howe said the school may apply for a Limited Authority to Teach (LAT) where a non-qualified teacher could teach for the rest of the year.

The school’s teacher aides were “more than capable” of teaching but “ideally, you want qualified people”.

The school had just under 300 students and employed about 40 staff, including 18 teachers, he said.

Relief teacher shortage

Pukehina School principal Indra Thomas said the school was “fully staffed” but its main challenge was a shortage of relievers.

Thomas said there were “two or three relievers” she knew of in the area. If unavailable, she tried to get relievers from Tauranga and Pāpāmoa.

“We’re not just [paying] their wages but we have to pay a travel allowance too and that travel allowance comes out of our bulk funding.”

Thomas covered the class if a reliever could not be found.

Extra staffing need ‘predicted’

Rotorua Principals’ Association president and Lynmore Primary School principal Hinei Taute said the need for extra staffing was “predicted” following the increase in classroom release time for teachers.

Taute said teachers got 20 hours per term of “non-contact” time “to prepare everything they need so they we’ve got some quality education programmes for our children”.

“We support that.”

Taute said a challenge at smaller schools was principals teaching when they needed to be “leading schools”.

Rotorua Principals’ Association president and Lynmore Primary School principal Hinei Taute pictured in 2023. Photo / Andrew Warner

NZEI Te Riu Roa temanukura president Ripeka Lessels said the projected shortages were “an ongoing pressure for primary schools and a major stress for school leaders”.

The union said the best way to solve the problem was to value those in the profession more and to make it more attractive as a career.

This included paid practicums for teachers in training and paying teachers “well”, Lessels said.

How the ministry is addressing the teacher shortage

Ministry education workforce hautū (leader) Anna Welanyk said it acknowledged the pressures for teachers across most regions and some schools had ongoing challenges to secure and retain qualified teachers.

“We also know that not all locations can easily access relief teachers, especially at short notice.”

The ministry had several funded initiatives to grow the teaching workforce, including scholarships for people wanting to study teaching or change their career to teaching, and changing immigration settings with all teachers on the Green List and secondary and primary teachers on the straight-to-residency pathway.

A relocation grant supported overseas teachers moving to New Zealand, and an overseas finder fee helped schools meet recruitment costs for overseas teachers.

The voluntary bonding scheme encouraged newly graduated teachers to teach in certain areas of need. Teachers could receive up to $17,500 if they stayed at an eligible school for up to five years.

Funding for practising certificate renewals to encourage former teachers to return to the profession as relief teachers and LAT teachers were also available.

Welanyk said the Government invested $53m in initiatives in Budget 2024 to grow the number of teachers and improve the quality of trainees.

Marketing campaigns targeting New Zealanders and overseas teachers had started and were “attracting considerable interest”, she said.

Investing in teacher supply was ongoing and the ministry expected initiatives to add up to 1000 primary and up to 1200 secondary teachers to the workforce this year, she said.

Welanyk said the report - which included regional data for the first time - showed initiatives were having a positive impact on growing teacher numbers.

“We know there is more to do to meet the staffing needs of all schools across New Zealand. We continue to expand what we know is working well and introduce new incentives to address the demand.”

Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.