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Speaker 1: Now school's in for almost in for the year, but

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Speaker 1: without the number of teachers that are needed. With the

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Speaker 1: new term just days away. Schools are short hundreds of

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Speaker 1: teachers and principles, and it's from early childhood centers right

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Speaker 1: through to secondary schools. About seventy five percent of vacancies

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Speaker 1: are in the North Island, with one hundred and twenty

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Speaker 1: five in Auckland alone. Joining me now is Vicky Barry,

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Speaker 1: who is principal at Northcote College.

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Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Good afternoon, How are you good?

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Speaker 1: Thank you? Is this big problem at your school?

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Speaker 2: Getting quality teachers is one of the most significant challenges

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Speaker 2: we face. That's at my school and across New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: We are working tirelessly to try and attract and retain

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Speaker 2: great teachers and we are still a couple of teachers

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Speaker 2: short at Northcote College for the beginning of the new year,

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Speaker 2: so we're working hard to resolve that before students return.

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Speaker 1: Right, is that likely to happen or will you go

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Speaker 1: and to term a couple of teachers down.

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Speaker 2: We yeah, we are confident that we'll be able to

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Speaker 2: cover the timetable, but we are working hard to find

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Speaker 2: the right people. In particular subjects. So you know, there

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Speaker 2: are some real pinch points. Carpentry and construction is one

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Speaker 2: for us. We need a new tel Maori teacher, which

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Speaker 2: where yeah? Where where? We don't really need until the

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Speaker 2: beginning of term two, but would like to have them

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Speaker 2: on board before then. So yeah, So it wasn't that

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Speaker 2: the biggest difference for students? Nothing else matters anymore.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, no, I agree with that. So carpentry, construction, malded classes.

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Speaker 1: Who will teach them in the meantime? Do you have

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Speaker 1: relief teachers? How does it work?

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Speaker 2: We've got some flexibility within the timetable and the teachers

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Speaker 2: that we've already got, So we're making changes to the

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Speaker 2: timetable to cover it temporarily, but we look forward to

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Speaker 2: having permanent people in those roles.

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Speaker 1: And you said quality teachers? Are you getting lots of

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Speaker 1: people to apply her? Bitcrap?

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Speaker 2: There are always applicants for jobs who we wouldn't appoint

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Speaker 2: and that it's really like, I really appreciate you picking

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Speaker 2: up on that, because it isn't a shortage of supply

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Speaker 2: of teachers, it's a shortage of quality teachers. The issue.

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Speaker 2: So deserve equality teacher.

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Speaker 1: I agree with that. What's wrong with them, the ones

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Speaker 1: you don't peck.

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Speaker 2: I think in New Zealand we are asking teachers to

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Speaker 2: do some really particular things. We need really good teachers

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand. New Zealand students are not likely to

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Speaker 2: sit in a row and hang off every word of

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Speaker 2: teacher says. They actually require an energetic, enthusiastic, quality teacher

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Speaker 2: to engage them and give them the success that they need.

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Speaker 2: I think teaching is particularly challenging in New Zealand, and

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Speaker 2: there's an equity issue. We need to do a great

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Speaker 2: job for all teachers. Some students are really easy to teach.

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Speaker 2: The rewards come from being successful with students who need

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Speaker 2: us more, students who benefit more from quality teachers.

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Speaker 1: That's the third time you mentioned New Zealand students. Are

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Speaker 1: you getting are you saying without saying? And I can

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Speaker 1: understand why you're cautious, but are you getting? Lots of

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Speaker 1: overseas applications? And when they come to teach in the class,

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Speaker 1: the students either aren't engaged or aren't energized by them.

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Speaker 2: We avoid appointing anyone who who who won't be successful,

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Speaker 2: because actually that's not fair on the teaching colleague or

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Speaker 2: on the students. So there are applicants who don't make

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Speaker 2: it through our recruitment process because they can't demonstrate their aptitude.

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Speaker 2: And we know we advertise for the sort of teachers

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Speaker 2: that we.

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Speaker 1: Want out of interest, so that the classes that you know,

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Speaker 1: you don't fill in your average year, what percentage of

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Speaker 1: the applicants would you say are from New Zealand trained

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Speaker 1: teachers versus overseas.

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Speaker 2: Ah depends completely on the It depends completely on the

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Speaker 2: on the role. So sometimes yeah, sometimes we would have

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Speaker 2: more applicants from overseas than we have from within New

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Speaker 2: Zealand and we teachers, so that's you know, we're an

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Speaker 2: accredited employer and we work with immigration in New Zealand

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Speaker 2: get visas and yeah, we've employed some fantastic teachers from overseas.

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Speaker 1: All right, Vicky, interesting stuff, appreciate your time, Thank you

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Speaker 1: for being with me. That's Vicky Barry, principal at Northcote

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Speaker 1: College and Auckland. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,

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