KEY POINTS:
The Herald asks three politicians: Principals complain about a shortage of skilled NZ-trained teachers. How would you address this?
Chris Carter, Labour: I would continue to support teachers, as we are doing with lowering class sizes, by dealing with the issue of pay. Teachers' salaries are up 37 per cent and principals' 43 per cent in the time Labour has been in. We would continue resourcing schools to make teaching environments more effective while supporting teachers' salaries.
Anne Tolley, National: As part of our crusade on numeracy and literacy package, we announced a cross-sector group to look at the attraction, training and retention of teachers. We've got to find a way to lift the status of teaching, attract the best students into teacher training and then keep them in the sector.
Dail Jones, NZ First: The first thing is retention, to keep people in New Zealand. We want to give people the opportunity once they've completed their course - instead of going overseas because they've got a student loan to pay off. We want to allow them to work anywhere in the country and get a credit from their student loan.
