Secondary school principals are warning the teacher shortage is set to worsen as they struggle to recruit staff.
It means schools are relying on foreign teachers to fill the gaps and some have even been forced to cut certain subjects.
Stephanie Beattie is a biology teacher recruited from Canada and now teaching at Auckland's Northcote College.
"I knew as soon as I was here on placement that I would stay," she told Newshub.
Northcote College's principal Vicki Barrie was struggling to hire teachers that had trained in Aotearoa but had better luck overseas.
"Staffing is really challenging and the problem has been growing and known for quite some time," Barrie told Newshub.
There were 1300 secondary teaching students in 2010. Despite an uptick in 2021 due to a concerted push, the number has halved since with just 685 enrolled in April this year.
"I think it's about salary, that's one part of it. The other part is about an additional expense of a year's graduate diploma study, so if they've just done three years' undergraduate study, that's another year they have to fund," said Dr Brian Marsh from the University of Auckland's faculty of education.
A recent survey by the Secondary Principal's Association found 16 percent of principals said they had to cancel classes or subjects because they didn't have enough teachers.
While the survey confirmed it's difficult to recruit in all subject areas, the results show the most difficult are mathematics, sciences and te reo Māori.
"I think we can do a better job of talking to young people about the benefits of a teaching career. I think it's a real privilege to be able to work with young people," said te reo Māori teacher Kelli Kawhia-Conrad.
"It's devastating for students if they can't take the subjects they want," Barrie added.
She said more needs to be done to encourage young people into secondary teaching.
"We need to continue to look at ways to make it more affordable for people to train to be a secondary teacher," Barrie said.
"You get to help shape the next generation and you get to invest and pour into these human beings that are growing up and figuring out who they are," Beattie added.
And what they can do to shape the future of New Zealand.
