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Speaker 1: There's growing concerns some schools might not have enough teachers

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Speaker 1: before schools start back. On Monday, there were three hundred

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Speaker 1: and forty six full time vacancies across the country listed

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Speaker 1: on the Ministry of Education website, but the shortage is

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Speaker 1: expectant to worsen as the year goes on. Northern Southland

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Speaker 1: College Principal Pete Wilkinson joins me. Now, good morning, Pete,

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Speaker 1: thanks for your time.

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Speaker 2: As Maria, Good morning Greensca.

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Speaker 1: Do you know why we're facing such a shortage?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look at some old short effectors. There's plenty going

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Speaker 2: on in the education space and it's just teaching is

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Speaker 2: just not seen as as the same career are the

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Speaker 2: same as it used to be way back in the

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Speaker 2: day when we all started. We've got graduates that are

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Speaker 2: coming out that have got far of your opportunities elsewhere. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: there's just it's not what it used to be and

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Speaker 2: it's a really tough gig. So some people of voting

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Speaker 2: with their feet and I suppose we need to do

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Speaker 2: more in the space to attract to attract graduates, to

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Speaker 2: attract young people, good people into education.

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Speaker 1: Pete, is this across the board or mainly in rural

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Speaker 1: areas that there's a shortage.

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Speaker 2: Well, traditionally it was harder to attract people in rural areas.

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Speaker 2: And i'm and i'm a principle of a of a

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Speaker 2: of a small school in rural Southland, and we've always

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Speaker 2: had struggles, you know, attracting people and keeping people because

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Speaker 2: of the of the rural nature and and and you know,

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Speaker 2: young people want to be in the in the bigger

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Speaker 2: in the bigger centers. But no, this is this is

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Speaker 2: a nationwide problem. Exceptionally hard to attract people into into teaching.

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Speaker 2: And we have vacancies that are going unfilled for for months,

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Speaker 2: if not years.

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Speaker 1: So Pete, how are you set up? How are you

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Speaker 1: set up then for the beginning of the year.

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Speaker 2: Look, this fluctuates from year to year, and and the

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Speaker 2: and the the biggest concern is that there are there

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Speaker 2: are people out there that are putting their hand up

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Speaker 2: to teach, but we're just not getting the quality that

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Speaker 2: we used to get. We can fill a hole. And

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Speaker 2: at the moment, you know, schools across the nation, not

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Speaker 2: just rural schools, but across the nation. We've got people

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Speaker 2: who are qualified to teach, but not not experts in

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Speaker 2: the areas that we require, and we're filling holes ad

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Speaker 2: hoc all over the place with people who are keen

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Speaker 2: to teach and keen to help out that that aren't

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Speaker 2: aren't exactly what we're after. My own personal example is that,

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Speaker 2: I mean, I've graduated in physical education years ago, and

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Speaker 2: we know that, and you's gone by. Physical education teachers

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Speaker 2: are very abductable and they end up teaching in all

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Speaker 2: sorts of different subject areas. Now. Now that's happening everywhere

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Speaker 2: the menta and the education sector is if you're qualified

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Speaker 2: and you're breathing, you're hired, which which is a pretty

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Speaker 2: sad state of affairs.

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Speaker 1: So what do you do if you can't get the teachers?

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Speaker 2: Do?

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Speaker 1: You just have to settle.

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Speaker 2: What you can? But there is there is, there is

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Speaker 2: a lot of settling, and there's actually a lot of

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Speaker 2: people who are who are good teachers who have retired

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Speaker 2: and are relief teaching, and we're we're calling in favors

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Speaker 2: and shoulders having these people to stay in education. It's

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Speaker 2: happened many times in my particular school, but it's happening everywhere.

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Speaker 2: We've got good people who, for all intents and purposes,

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Speaker 2: want to be retired and want to be stepping back,

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Speaker 2: and they are continually stepping up to help out. But

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Speaker 2: the flip side of that is that those same people

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Speaker 2: who we need for a relief teaching pool on for

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Speaker 2: day to day relief when you know, when teachers are

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Speaker 2: ill and that sort of thing, but they're not available.

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Speaker 2: So we're filling holes and overworking our teachers, our current

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Speaker 2: teaching staff who don't get to keep their their non

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Speaker 2: their non contact peryers that they're entitled to so we

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Speaker 2: can fill classes. We've got we've got people that are

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Speaker 2: teaching over over there over the allocated teaching timetable. We've

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Speaker 2: got principles that are stepping in, senior leaders that are

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Speaker 2: stepping in and teaching when it's just absolutely not ideal.

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Speaker 2: So it's all stock get measures.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a short term and a long term problem,

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Speaker 1: isn't it? Is there anything the government can do to help?

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Speaker 2: Look, this is multifaceted sort of things. You know, we

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Speaker 2: need to incentivize teaching. Just in preparation for this, I

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Speaker 2: I got speaking with a few quite a few staff

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Speaker 2: members and a few long term staff members that have

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Speaker 2: that have retired and relief teachers, and one said to me.

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Speaker 2: When I began teaching, I earned the same amount of

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Speaker 2: money as a backpench MP. Now there is no way

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Speaker 2: that teachers in this day and age are earning the

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Speaker 2: same at the top of the scale as a back

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Speaker 2: bench MP. No, we near it. So that's you know

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Speaker 2: that the whole and money is only part of the equation.

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Speaker 2: You know, we have successive governments that you know, we're

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Speaker 2: playing miago arounds of all sorts of educational things and

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Speaker 2: every three years we seem to pivot. Overseas other other

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Speaker 2: countries like Finland, they have a bipartisan approach to education,

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Speaker 2: so you're not constantly having to change tech. And in

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Speaker 2: this current environment, teachers are pretty wrecked and burnt out.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully not at this time of the year because we're

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Speaker 2: about to kick off again and get back into it

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty five. But just yeah, it's all sorts

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Speaker 2: of things we have to do money as part of

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Speaker 2: the equation. Graduates coming out from a university, let's say

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Speaker 2: in the secondary space, when they do a teaching degree,

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Speaker 2: they do a degree first and then they can do

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Speaker 2: their teaching diploma, their their postgraduate qualification. They're not they're

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Speaker 2: voting with their fat they're going elsewhere, and it's got

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Speaker 2: to be a mixture of pay and conditions. We're just

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Speaker 2: not getting those young people saying, hey, I really want

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Speaker 2: to go into education, and yeah, there's all sorts of

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Speaker 2: things we could do to fix it, but a bipartisan

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Speaker 2: approach ways to improve the desire for people to want

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Speaker 2: to go teach.

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Speaker 1: Oh, Pete, best of luck, Thank you so much for

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Speaker 1: your time this morning. That was Pete Wilkinson, Northern Southland

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Speaker 1: College principle. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,

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