Ministry initiatives ease teacher supply

ON THE UP: Mathematics and statistics and technology – two of the most difficult subjects to staff – have considerably lower vacancies than previous years, according to a just released Ministry of Education survey.

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Staffing of traditionally hard to fill subjects in schools has improved.

Mathematics and statistics and technology – two of the most difficult subjects to staff – have considerably lower vacancies than previous years, according to a just released Ministry of Education survey.

The number of vacancies in technology dropped from 17.4 percent to 14.4 percent and from 16.8 percent to 10.2 percent for mathematics and statistics.

Lynne Whitney, the ministry's senior manager of research, said, overall, most New Zealand schools started off the year with 99 percent of their entitlement positions filled – a slightly higher number than last year.

Entitlement positions are those that are funded by the ministry.

Ms Whitney said the good results in the survey were no coincidence.

Over the past few years the ministry had been offering a range of TeachNZ Scholarships and initiatives to encourage teachers to return to the profession and train and work in hard to staff subjects and areas.

Specific initiatives included allowances for those training in hard to fill subjects, loan support for teachers of particular subjects and in hard to fill geographical areas, relocation grants for moving internationally and nationally, returning to teaching allowances and free retraining for former secondary teachers.

Numbers of vacancies in secondary schools sat at 148.9 at the beginning of the school year (a slight drop on last year), while entitlement vacancies in primary schools stayed the same as the previous year at 180.7.

- NZPA