Warning sounded over teacher supply

There were 200 teaching vacancies at the beginning of this year. Photo / Supplied

The teacher shortage that caused staffing issues in the mid-2000s seems to have eased - but the sector is warning that things could change very quickly if the economy improves.

A survey released this week found 172 schools started this year with nearly 200 teaching vacancies.

While that figure is slightly higher than in 2010, it's much lower than in previous years and down from a high of 424 vacancies in 318 schools in 2004.

The Ministry of Education's monitoring teacher supply survey found the vacancies at the start of the year represented just 0.5 per cent of all full-time teaching positions and that the overall drop during the past few years may reflect the continuing impact of the recession.

It said the supply of teachers was dependent on a number of things, including the recruitment of first-year teachers and overseas trained teachers and the overall trend since 2004 suggested the number of first-year teachers being employed was decreasing as the market tightened up.

This year 1766 first-year teachers were employed compared with 2348 in 2004. But while the Ministry of Education describes the teacher supply as being in its best shape in years, the sector is urging caution and saying a healthier economy could bring a sudden turnaround.

Teach NZ manager Di Davies said teacher supply and demand were "more in balance than at any time over the last decade".

"Teaching vacancies have fallen to their lowest level in a number of years, as have teacher losses."

Nearly a quarter of the vacant positions were in Auckland, while just under half were deemed to be hard-to-staff positions.

However, Post Primary Teachers Association president Robin Duff said the problem with the ministry's staffing surveys was they underestimated staffing needs and didn't reflect the real number of vacancies.

He said the ministry was too complacent about vacancies in secondary schools and would be caught out if the economy improved.

Vacancies advertised in the Education Gazette last year totalled just under 8000, 2600 down on 2008.