A chronic shortage of teachers in schools across the country, including in east Auckland, is being addressed in the coalition Government’s first Budget later this week.
Education Minister Eric Stanford says over the next four years the Budget will support the training and recruitment of 1500 teachers into the workforce.
“To raise achievement and develop a world-leading education system we’re investing nearly $53 million over four years to attract, train and retain our valued teacher workforce.
“We’re being proactive in addressing the forecast future need for teachers, with recent estimates showing up to 680 more secondary teachers could be needed within the next three years.
“Today’s investment in training, recruitment and development will help us to meet that demand by growing the domestic and overseas pipeline of teachers.
“We have also listened to principals and teachers who have constantly stressed the importance of new trainees spending more time in the classroom with experienced mentors.”
Stanford says a recent Education Review Office report entitled ‘Ready, Set, Teach’ found teachers who spent two days or more in the classroom per week as part of their training were more prepared to enter the workforce.
“With this significant investment in our teachers, a knowledge-rich curriculum, investment of $67m over four years into structured literacy, and a focus on teaching the basics brilliantly, this coalition Government will lift student achievement to ensure all Kiwi kids can reach their full potential.”
In response to Stanford’s announcement, Labour Party education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says: “Continuing the previous Labour Government’s work on teacher training and bringing more teachers into New Zealand is a good thing.
“In Government we added more than 1300 teachers in just over 12 months.
“Erica Stanford’s plan to grow the amount by 1500 over four times as long will go nowhere near as far.
“It’s a shame the Government is picking and choosing education targets based on what they see as easiest to achieve and is refusing to commit to a target on ending New Zealand’s teacher shortage.
“Currently there are over 80 pathways to becoming a teacher in New Zealand.
“Today’s announcement also does nothing to ensure consistency across teacher education programmes to build better outcomes.”
