December 05, 2018
Teacher pay talks highlight recruitment crisis
The head of the Principals Federation says a decent settlement is needed to ensure schools and kura have the teachers they need.
Primary and intermediate teachers have rejected the latest offer to settle their collective contract.
Whetu Cormick says while there were some positive aspects to the offer, teachers were concerned at the non-contact time on offer, and also the continuing low pay rates.
He says there’s not enough in the package to reverse what has been a 40 percent decline over the past decade in the number of graduates form teachers colleges, with the Māori immersion sector particularly badly affected.
"We know that there are not enough qualified te reo Māori teachers. There are only about 45 te reo Māori teachers coming out each year so our kaupapa Māori settings at level one immersion classrooms or schools across the country are really struggling to find te reo Māori speakers," Mr Cormack says.
The problem may have been created by the previous National Government, but it’s now up to the Labour-led coalition to fix it up.
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