Teachers for hard-to-staff areas still difficult despite scheme

The Voluntary Bonding Scheme has had 620 teaching graduates complete its three-year minimum requirement since it began in 2009. Photo / Thinkstock

Getting teachers for hard-to-staff areas is still proving difficult, six years after a Government scheme was launched to fill workforce shortages, industry representatives say.

The Voluntary Bonding Scheme, which encourages graduates to remain in New Zealand and fill teaching shortages, has had 620 teaching graduates complete its three-year minimum requirement since it began in 2009.

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 participants have a student loan, the money will go towards paying it back.

NZME News Service asked the Ministry of Education how many teachers failed to meet their three-year requirement but was told it was not recorded.

Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) Bay of Plenty chairwoman Rae Brown said some educators found subject areas such as maths, science and Te Reo so difficult to staff, classes were increasingly being taken by teachers of different backgrounds, through digital learning and correspondence. In some cases, Te Reo was removed from the curriculum.

Meanwhile, PPTA Manawatu/Wanganui chairman Alan Carson didn't think the scheme was making a dent in rural areas.

"The fact is, a lot of graduates don't want to come to rural areas which don't have everything they're used to in their university towns," he said.

Rotorua Principals' Association president Grant Henderson saw pros of the scheme, for example, it gave graduates good experience and meant principals could afford teachers for three years -- the time Mr Henderson considered it took to begin to evolve as a teacher.

However, Te Tai Tokerau Principals' Association president Pat Newman said he remained unconvinced of its worth.

"I have reservations about putting inexperienced people with perhaps only a year of training in hard-to-staff classrooms," he said.

"Those are the areas where quality, experienced teachers are needed the most. There used to be monetary incentives to get good teachers to go to difficult areas. I think we need to start looking at that again."

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 be constantly being considered so the programme can be refined."

Mr Hipkins believed teacher training should more closely meet the needs of the workforce.

"If we want to get more people into the teaching profession and increase the level of support there should be further restrictions on entry criteria and workforce planning. That means you wouldn't be training an abundance of teachers in one area and a scarcity in another."

My word is my bond

The Voluntary Bonding Scheme paid teaching graduates up to $17,500 to spend three years at a low-decile or isolated school, or teach an eligible subject in a hard-to-fill area such as maths, physics, chemistry or te reo Maori. From 2013 onwards there were no eligible subjects, though the scheme still covered low-decile or isolated positions.