Graduates need more

PPTA Hawke's Bay chairman Julian Lumbreras said anything which tried to match teacher supply with the demands of the workforce was positive. Photo / Duncan Brown

More needs to be done to match teaching graduates with the demands of the workforce in Hawke's Bay, a teachers' association chairman says.

According to Ministry of Education data, 52 teaching graduates in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne have completed the three-year minimum requirement of the Voluntary Bonding Scheme since it began in 2009.

The scheme aimed to encourage graduates to remain in New Zealand and fill workforce shortages.

Hawke's Bay Today asked the Ministry how many Hawke's Bay teachers failed to meet their three-year requirement but was told it was not recorded.

Participants can receive a maximum of $17,500 from the scheme - $10,500 before tax after their third year teaching and then $3500 after their fourth and fifth years of teaching. If they have a student loan, the money will go towards paying it back.

PPTA Hawke's Bay chairman Julian Lumbreras said anything which tried to match teacher supply with the demands of the workforce was positive.

"We want more teachers and high quality teachers," he said. "It's a great concern to the PPTA that the prospect of low salaries and high workloads is putting off young people getting into the profession.

"It's absolutely vital to invest in the education system we have and always try to improve on that system. The better education is, the better prepared the workforce is; the more productive the country is; the stronger the economy is."

A recent survey-based PPTA report found high demand for teachers in maths and science nationwide but an oversupply of physical education teachers.

"I don't know if you can quite tell someone they can't study physical education but, at the same time, the needs of the workforce must be constantly considered," Mr Lumbreras said.

Nationwide, 620 teachers have done at least three years in the Voluntary Bonding Scheme since it began in 2009.

Ministry of Education acting deputy secretary of student achievement Lesley Hoskin said the uptake of the scheme was much lower than anticipated as supply and demand had changed significantly.

"There has been very little movement within the workforce, vacancy levels dropped to a 10-year low in 2010, and continue to remain relatively low," she said.

Labour's education spokesman Chris Hipkins supported the scheme but said it should be more closely monitored.

"There's absolutely no doubt we want to encourage people into the teaching profession but it should be updated annually with basic information of who's signing up for it and if they're still in it," he said. "What's working and what's not should constantly be considered so the programme can be refined."