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ED

Tag: crisis

  • It’s Time to Teach Back Home

    Great to see the NZ Government finally getting on board with the latest NZEI slogan “It’s time”.

    Of course, they tried to be cool with it, and put in a New Zullund accent in the spelling – “It’s Toym to Come Home and Teach in New Zealand”.

    In the latest effort from the Government to try and lure teachers back home, the first website has been launched.

    https://teachbackhome.co.nz

    The fancy graphics and videos can’t have been cheap.

    The site goes to outline the incentives to come back to New Zealand and teach.

    • Up to $7000 relocation grant (limited number)
    • Three agencies to assist you finding a job “…in Auckland” (and in other parts of the country!).
    • A child willing to give you their lunch (Seriously!?)
    • Videos of teaching happening in New Zealand.
    • The lack of security checks for weapons in New Zealand schools (Seriously!?).
    • A list of a few latest job listings from the Education Gazette and a link to take you there to see more.
    • A list of registration requirements before you can teach in New Zealand.

    Yes there is a degree of humour in the recruitment drive – but it treats it like a bit of a joke, which isn’t entirely ideal.
    But at what cost? Just looking through the site, there are several areas where the $10 million dollars for recruitment is being spent

    • Website design – probably exorbitant given the visual media costs and prior history of prices paid for websites by the Government.
    • $5K and $7K relocation grants
    • Ministry of Education “contracted recruitment agents”.
    • Several student story videos and other video media.

    However; the grants were already in place PRIOR to the $10million dollar scheme, as per this article: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11981974

    Of course, there are other costs involved as well, and it speaks volumes when those that have returned to teach here are then let down by the system and have since quit! Not exactly the best advertisement.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11924965

    I certainly hope that this isn’t the only plan to address the teacher shortage. Hopefully it’s low down on the initiatives.

    It’s time to start valuing the Teaching profession – make it a viable career, with appealing pay and career prospects. Reduce the workload and motivate the current teachers enough to tell the world about what an awesome job they have, rather than how tough it is at the moment. Don’t offer us a child’s lunch or suggest that not having to walk through a metal detector is what makes our education system the best in the world.

  • More pupils, less teachers

    South Canterbury primary schools are full to the brim for next year but finding enough teachers to teach them is a different story.

    For many of the region’s schools, 2019 is going to be a “bumper” year, with enrolments either nearing or at full capacity, principals say.

    However, recruiting teachers to cover this influx or replace those who are leaving has been a greater challenge.

    While St Joseph’s Timaru School only had to recruit one teacher, principal Carmel Brosnahan-Pye said “it wasn’t easy”. “It’s[recruiting teachers] definitely an increasing issue in South Canterbury,” Brosnahan-Pye said.

    Beaconsfield School principal Hamish Brown echoed Brosnahan-Pye’s comments saying finding new teachers has “changed dramatically over the last couple of years”.

    Despite this, most schools have been able to recruit the teachers they need, although Timaru Christian School is re-advertising​ one of its 2019 positions.

    While principal Bethany Rentoul would not say why, as the process was ongoing, she did say that the school had “filled three other positions recently”.

    “We have received fewer applications for positions overall, over the past few interview rounds, and there has been a big increase in the number of overseas teachers applying,” Rentoul said.

  • Understanding the Teacher Crisis

    The Side Eye: Everything to Everyone – understanding the teacher crisis:

    A unique take on the Teacher Crisis put into a visual narrative succinctly and accurately by Toby Morris.

    Be sure to check it out over at The Spinoff – The Side Eye.

    For the rest of the story, please head over to the original article here.

    https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/the-side-eye/03-12-2018/the-side-eye-everything-to-everyone-understanding-the-teacher-crisis/?fbclid=IwAR04F0_Wj102NUYIFSY1Th7SJhbX99I83ZLJJwidKkSEwdKfAnvlkLkycqY

  • The Teacher Crisis as it is.

    Recently there has been a lot in the media about teachers pay, and current issues in education. This was somewhat heightened by the August strike – the first primary teachers have been on since 1994.

    But why? What’s it all about?

    It boils down to one issue.

    Workload.

    You see; many think (and has been reported on) that it is about pay. To some degree, it has to be about pay. It’s illegal to strike otherwise. But the underlying issue comes down to other factors.

    I wouldn’t hesitate to say that there isn’t a single teacher in the country who is in the job for the money. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, the job as it currently stands is tough, stressful and does not match the pay. Secondly, most of us have tertiary level and post-grad qualifications and would waltz into other jobs, be it within education, or further afield.

    No. We do it for love. We do it because it’s what we love. It might be what we’re good at. It might even be what you’d say a calling.

    But it’s not the pay.

    But here’s the kicker. The current work conditions are untenable. There are rising needs across the country, lower ability students, learning difficulties, additional needs, more behavioural issues than ever before. An epidemic if you will.

    Add to this, there are teachers leaving in droves, and class sizes are going up. This brings more workload, less teaching time, more administration time, more reports, more parents to meet, and more stress.

    Classes are being split across the country as relievers become harder and harder to come by. Sick teachers feel they have to come into school to teach.

    Add to this current problems in larger city centres where schools can’t get enough teachers for their classes due to travel or property costs.

    So, how do we fix this?

    Well; what has to happen just to keep the current workforce, is to make it a manageable job and career. Classes of over 30 aren’t going to help this, and so classes need to be no more than 25; preferably closer to 20 than anything else. This will make the job more manageable in terms of time; time with students, time to teach, time to test, and time on admin (reports, meetings and the like). Students will finally get the time and attention they need rather than being lost in the crowd of 30+ others, of which the only way to get attention sometimes is by being the loudest, or by creating trouble and being “out of line”. Students with additional needs often require more support than just what the teachers can currently give them. It was pleasing to see the announcement from Tracy Martin this week some suggested changes to this, including specialist SENCO teachers in each school and screening for learning difficulties such as dyslexia (which has been a long time coming!) Both of these initiatives will assist teachers with dealing with the multitudes of additional needs in their classes, and alleviate some but not all of the workload.

    The only way to decrease class sizes is by increasing the number of teachers in each school. Suddenly we not only have to try and retain the current workforce, but we have to recruit or entice ex-teachers back to the job. While some are called to the profession, there is one obvious way to bring more people into this career path.

    Show publicly that the profession is valued.

    How you do that is up to others in power, but it has been suggested that a salary increase might be one way in which to do this.

    And so, in a very round about way we can see that the strike wasn’t just about pay, but also very much more about workload and working conditions in schools that current teachers are facing, and what needs to happen to not only to maintain the numbers in their ranks, but also to be an viable and more importantly, an attractive option and career path for the future.