The teacher shortage in New Zealand is expected to go from bad to worse.
Recent figures released to the New Zealand Educational Institute predict the teacher shortage will reach crisis point by 2030.
President Lynda Stuart says New Zealand's growing population isn't helping. By 2030, there will be at least an extra 40,000 primary school students, she says, and 38,000 of them are projected to be in the Auckland area.
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- Teaching not seen as attractive career path anymore - strike negotiator
Primary school teachers and principals will strike for the first time in 24 years after rejecting the Government's pay offer earlier in July. Teachers and principals plan to strike for three hours on August 15.
The pay rise offered ranges from a 6.1 percent increase for the top of the pay scale, which would have made the maximum teacher's salary about $80,600, to a 14.7 percent increase to the entry salary, bringing that to $55,030.
But teachers have asked for a 16 percent increase over two years, alongside extra learning support and more time for teaching.
"There are 40 percent fewer people entering teacher training than there were about six years ago and that's not good. We need to have the profession revitalised with great young people choosing teaching as a career," head strike negotiator for principals Louise Green told The AM Show earlier this month.
She said teaching isn't seen as an attractive career path anymore, and the profession is "reaching crisis point".
Teaching is demanding, but teachers' hard work is not reflected in their pay, she added, which has made it an unattractive profession.
Newshub.
