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More schools turning to on-the-job training to fill teacher shortage
Schools are increasingly turning to new ways of recruiting teachers in order to meet demand amid a long-running teacher shortage.
On the job training programmes were designed to allow aspiring teachers who already have a degree to spend a year working at a school with minimal time spent on campus, sort of like an apprenticeship.
Participants’ fees are covered and they could earn a small salary, so the programme is proving popular among graduates who do not fancy another year at university.
It had just been a way to make ends meet, but she found she loved it.
“I realised that actually, I think I might like to become a teacher. So teaching was not part of the original plan, but it’s been a really happy result,” McAlpine said.
Around the same time, she heard about the Auckland Schools’ Teacher Training Programme and decided to give it a go, obtaining a placement at Westlake Boys High School.
She said the practical nature of the programme made the experience invaluable.
Westlake Boys High School. Photo: RNZ/ Luka Forman
“There’s stuff that you just can’t learn in theory, when you’re dealing with young people every day, in terms of little behaviour management strategies and the administration of the job and managing a classroom. You just can’t match it.”
While learning on the job, trainees were still required to complete university papers, but they could do this remotely and still end up with a teaching diploma.
Their university fees were covered, and the school paid them a stipend to cover their living costs while they worked there.
Westlake boys High School principal David Ferguson. Photo: RNZ/ Luka Forman
Westlake Boys High principal David Ferguson said the success of the Auckland Schools’ Teacher Training Programme spoke for itself.
“The 45, 46, that qualified in the first two years, every single one them ended up working in the school who trained them – apart from one who relocated to a different city and picked up a job there anyway.”
It was the school’s responsibility to support the teachers through the year and make sure they were getting the help they needed.
Ferguson said 80 percent of those doing the programme this year had switched from a different career, and most of them would not have been interested in going back to uni.
“Knowing that they probably would never have found their way into teaching if it wasn’t for this program, just makes it feel like we’re really on to something.”
Ferguson said they were aiming for a 50 percent increase in the number of trainees doing the course next year.
Acting president of the Post-Primary Teachers’ association Chris Abercrombie said it supported school based training, but had some concerns about equity for rural and lower decile schools: “Having the staffing ability to be able to manage these programs within the schools, having the individuals that want to be involved, so those are our main concerns around equity.
“It doesn’t appear that lower decile schools have access to this.”
One lower decile school that was a part of the programmes was James Cook High School in South Auckland.
It was a part of both the Auckland Schools’ programme, as well as another called Teach First.
James Cook High School principal Grant McMillan says the train on the job schemes have been valuable for his school. Photo: RNZ/ Luka Forman
Principal Grant McMillan said the programmes were a big help in overcoming the shortage of qualified teachers.
“They’re making a huge difference and they’re helping us get different people at different stages of their life into teaching.”
He said training quality teachers had never been more important, with shortages expected to get worse.
McMillan said these programmes were not going to replace traditional teacher training, but it was good to give aspiring teachers options.
RNZ
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
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