Overworked teachers are pinning hopes on the looming economic catastrophe as an unlikely saviour for their profession.
With the pandemic and lockdown potentially about to plunge New Zealand into a deep recession the likes of unseen since the Great Depression, Post-Primary Teachers Association president Jack Boyle says people might start to see teaching as an attractive option.
"Over the last 30 years whenever there's an economic downturn, people tend to see teaching as a bit more attractive as a profession - they don't leave in the same numbers and new ones start lining up at the door. So that's a really good thing," he told The AM Show on Friday.
New Zealand's teacher shortage has reached crisis levels in recent years, with many young graduates quickly exiting the workforce thanks to historically low pay and tough conditions. 2019 was described as the "worst year yet" by one principal, and Boyle last year warned of class sizes of 60-plus if it wasn't fixed.
"We've had a bit of a shortage, we've had a few problems there, but it's a hell of an important job. It's a really enjoyable job, even though it's tough," Boyle said on Friday.
"It's not the way I would have tried to fix the supply challenge we have, but hey - we'll take it."
Few students have returned to school under pandemic alert level 3, with most still at home learning remotely. A new survey across New Zealand and Australia has found most teachers - about 80 percent - think students will need extra instructional support once they go back, having fallen behind while learning via screens, rather than face-to-face.
Only half of them said online learning could be as effective as learning in the classroom.
"Online teaching works for the kids it works for, it works for the teachers it works for - there's a hell of a lot of young people and teachers for whom it's not working, either because they don't have it or they haven't had time to make full use of it," said Boyle.
But more important than keeping the knowledge flowing is maintaining relationships between teachers and students, as well as students and their friends, he said.
"It's not like you transmit the knowledge content and then people have it in their heads and away they go - we're always revisiting content, we're always making sure that people have got it, they've had those 'a-ha' moments - we'll just continue to do that, because that's what teachers do."
"When you're in a bubble, when you're isolated from your friends, your peer group, even your teachers, that's going to have an impact on you. That's the most important thing for us to focus on when we go back to schools being open for face-to-face instruction - making sure people are okay, that they understand those social bonds are there, their friends are still there and that we're going to get through this year.
"Whether or not you have the same number of credits on your NCEA should probably be secondary to, are you feeling okay? Are you connected with your friends, with your peer group, with your teachers? And can you get on and get back to schooling? That's probably the most important thing we can be doing."
He said students whose education was disrupted by the Christchurch quakes turned out to be a resilient bunch, and he expects nothing less from the rest of the country.
"That's what will happen in time here in New Zealand, even if not everybody's getting the same level of learning now, from home, as what they did six or seven weeks ago."
Full schooling is expected to resume under level 2, which might only be a couple of weeks away.
