Support available to schools with teacher vacancies

Teacher supply is tightening in some subjects and areas around the country, but the preliminary feedback from the Ministry’s conversations with principals across Auckland shows that most schools will start the school year with a full complement of teachers.

Those with vacancies have advised us that plans have been put in place to manage the gaps and minimise disruption.

Measures in place to reduce pressure include the following:

• The Ministry subsidises two recruitment agencies to help schools recruit teachers. In addition to helping with the recruitment of permanent staff. These agencies have around 300 relief teachers who are available to work in term one in the Auckland region.
• The Auckland Beginning Teacher Project has been extended and applications for this are currently open. As of December 2017, 18 places have been filled and a number of other applications were being considered. We are continuing to work with the Auckland Principals’ Association to promote the Auckland Beginning Teacher Project to Auckland principals.
• Schools can apply for the 3R (recruitment, retention and responsibility). This is a one-off $1 million national fund established to cover additional payments schools can offer to attract or retain a person with a Limited Authority to Teach. The fund is open now and closes at the end of June 2018, or earlier if the funds have been fully allocated. 
• The Overseas Relocation Grant is available to assist teachers with the cost of moving to New Zealand. New Zealand-trained teachers living overseas could be eligible for a relocation grant of up to $7,000. Overseas-trained teachers could be eligible for a relocation grant of up to $5,000. Recruiting schools may also be eligible for up to $3,000 to assist with recruitment costs. 
• The Government will cover the cost of completing the Teacher Education Refresh for around 500 teachers in the first half of 2018. Since December, there have been almost 400 expressions of interest in this initiative, which could result in hundreds more teachers getting back into classrooms.
• NZQA has made some changes last year which mean that some overseas teaching qualifications will not need an International Qualifications Assessment (IQA) for the purposes of teacher registration and teacher salary. Applications from teachers with these teaching qualifications (from the UK, Ireland, Canada, Fiji and South Africa) will be fast-tracked through the NZQA and Education Council process, saving teachers $746.
• The Voluntary Bonding Scheme has been extended to decile 2-3 state and state-integrated schools in the Auckland region, and to new teaching graduates in shortage subjects (the sciences, maths, technology and te reo Māori) and in Māori medium kura settings throughout the country, which essentially targets graduates who will enter the teaching workforce in 2018. Eligible applicants can apply for this in 2021.

For details about these and other initiatives, go to TeachNZ(external link).