Covid-19 has caused huge upheaval for education in Hawke's Bay, but it's also eased one of its biggest problems. Shannon Johnstone reports.
Teacher Richard Fenwick knew he and his family wanted to come back from Zimbabwe to Hawke's Bay.
Life, and the timing of a deadly virus, nearly got in his way over the course of a chaotic seven-day journey to get home.
He's one of many teachers who are coming back to the country and the region, all but solving the teaching shortage that has plagued the nation in recent years.
Nationwide, the Ministry of Education says the number of teaching vacancies in primary and secondary schools dropped by a third from 349 last January to 233 last month.
In Hawke's Bay, the Education Gazette shows there are currently 16 vacancies for primary and secondary school teachers.
In January there were just 12 vacancies, a near halving of the 23 Hawke's Bay teaching vacancies at the same time in 2020.
Ministry of Education spokeswoman Ellen MacGregor-Reid said that taking into account the impact of Covid-19, teacher supply projections for 2021 show that overall, across the country, there will be more teachers available to fill classroom roles.
"The Ministry does not collect data on teachers returning to New Zealand, but anecdotal evidence suggests some vacancies are being filled by returnees.
"There is also an increasing number of teachers entering and re-entering the workforce and fewer leaving, showing a trend of a growing workforce."
Nationally, demand for primary teachers is expected to be met by available supply.
Fenwick, a history, classical studies and social studies teacher at Hastings Girls' High School went to secondary school in Hawke's Bay and moved to Africa with his Zimbabwean wife when an opportunity to teach came up, ultimately staying for seven years.
With the living and economic situation in Zimbabwe and thinking of their five children's future, they decided to move back to New Zealand just before Covid-19 hit.
Fenwick was offered a job at HGHS and a week before lockdown he was prepared to move back for a term before the family moved in the following term.
Lockdown in Zimbabwe hit and he couldn't leave the country but was able to teach both at HGHS and his Zimbabwean school virtually.
A busy period, HGHS had been able to adjust to online learning well with Government support for devices, but in Zimbabwe some families were losing electricity.
When New Zealand pupils started returning to school, he still couldn't leave Zimbabwe but was able to retain his job at HGHS on unpaid leave until he could get into New Zealand.
In term three last year the family was still trying to return but what followed was a "horrific" seven-day journey to get to New Zealand.
The usual path of flying to Johannesburg then on to New Zealand wasn't an option as the family couldn't get into South Africa.
The family drove for a day to Zimbabwe capital Harare then boarded a passenger plane which was officially being used as a cargo flight with about 40 others.
They flew to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia then had to "sprint across the airport" to catch another plane to Dubai.
At midnight they went to board a plane to Sydney but found their passports had been red-flagged due to the Covid-19 situation in Australia.
"We were kind of stranded and the next flight out of Dubai was in a months' time."
They then had to fly back to Ethiopia, stay overnight there, fly to Doha, then managed to get a 19-hour flight which refuelled in Brisbane and landed in Auckland.
The entire journey took about seven days and was followed by two weeks' quarantine in Auckland.
Now back in Hawke's Bay, he is finding teaching in New Zealand again "really interesting".
He describes teaching in Zimbabwe as more "old-school" and traditional and a different culture being a 95 per cent African school.
"I had to really learn how to teach in that environment and after seven years coming back here, I had to re-learn how to teach in a New Zealand school environment.
"A lot had changed as well within that time curriculum wise, with a focus on Māori achievement and many things like that."
After the Covid-19 online experience, he has also found that students want to be in a classroom with a teacher helping them.
"I think we [teachers] probably feel more valued now than we probably did before because just being virtual is not the way of it."
New Zealand Principals' Federation president Perry Rush said there is no longer a pressing teacher supply issue at the primary level.
In Hawke's Bay there are nine primary and intermediate positions, several of which are management positions, a number are part-time and a "tiny" number of classroom positions he said.
"That gives us good evidence that there is no pressing teacher supply issue in the Hawke's Bay."
As last year was not as significant a challenge as years prior, Rush said the sector was already "on a trend to see a lessening of the teacher supply challenge nationally".
"The major influencing factor has been returning Kiwi teachers coming into the system," he said.
Without international students, those teachers had been re-deployed and people moving from part-time to full-time teaching was also an influencing factor.
"People are pretty keen for stable employment and in some instances, the employment of husbands, wives, whānau have shifted and full-time employment is seen to be a very important thing at this time."
Having a broad cross-section of applicants to choose from was a position the sector had not been in over the last five years, he said.
"It's quite important that we move back to more supply so we get more choice relative to the positions we need to fill."
MacGregor-Reid said 80 more secondary school teachers were still likely needed nationwide, particularly in te reo Māori and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
She said the regional office reports this is the case in Hawke's Bay with many of the vacancies relating to these hard-to-staff subjects or remote locations.
Secondary Principals' Association NZ president Deidre Shea said the teacher shortage situation for secondary schools nationwide is "in better position now than for a very long time, if not forever".
But there are specific shortages in STEM and te reo Māori with a shortage of STEM teachers being a worldwide issue.
She also said when international students return, she expects New Zealand will be even more popular than before and "that shortage will be exacerbated again".
"It's not a long-term situation that we are in.
"We've got an opportunity now to address these things while we are in a relatively good position."
New Hereworth School deputy head (teaching and learning) and Years 5-6 teacher Thomas Primrose is another who has returned to his hometown in Hawke's Bay after teaching in London for five years.
He and his wife had been intending to return to New Zealand to start a family, but Covid-19 "sped up that process".
In the UK he found the pandemic "pretty challenging" and had three and a half months working online from home.
Then they had two weeks in July when the whole school returned and they would operate in bubbles of 15.
September was also a relatively normal month but as he left the case numbers began to climb again.
He returned to New Zealand in the middle of October 2020 and began his position at Hereworth School this academic year.
Since returning he has found "the region has really come on" and is a great place for a young family.
He has found New Zealand to be what he remembered, and hasn't experienced any animosity for returning.
Primrose said he had found the New Zealand curriculum to be "more well-rounded" allowing for more freedom to take it in the way a teacher wants than the UK curriculum.
"Here, the framework is there and you can pick and choose what you want out of that to drive your topics and your lesson."
The amount of space onsite at Hereworth compared to his school in London is also a big difference and something he believes helps the boys get their energy out and be calmer.
"I think some people don't realise how good we've got it here and it's not until you go away that you actually appreciate what we've got in Hawke's Bay and New Zealand."
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