Primary schools in New Zealand’s biggest city are so short of qualified teachers that they are considering recruiting candidates with poor English language skills.
A December survey of 79 primary school principals in Auckland published last week says that most of the applicants for positions were “poor” or “very poor”. All of the surveyed principals were struggling to find teachers they wanted to employ.
Experienced teachers are in particularly short supply in Auckland. Almost half of candidates applying for jobs in Auckland’s schools were beginning teachers. NZEI President Frances Nelson says the problem is not necessarily with the quality of new teachers, but the lack of experienced teachers.
“When a school has a high ratio of beginning teachers already, the fact that they make up most of the recruitment pool is a problem.
“Beginning teachers require extra support and mentoring from experienced teachers to see them through the first two years to full registration. This means additional pressure on school leaders, some of whom would prefer to hire experienced teachers.”
According to today’s Sunday Star Times, New Zealand Principals are also reporting a teacher shortage in rural schools. Auckland Primary Principals Association president Ken Pemberton says some overseas candidates shortlisted by schools were unable to communicate in a classroom.
“The kids wouldn’t understand them. It’s absolutely ridiculous.
“The worst scenario is we put too much pressure on our incumbent experienced staff and they say it’s too hard and leave.”
The primary teacher recruitment crisis is expected to worsen in April when the government has scheduled an improvement in the teacher-student ratio for Year 1 students from 1:23 to 1:18.
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