On Monday 17 February, a group of ITE lecturers met at MOTAT to spend the day together.
As part of our day, we had a sit down with two people:
- Dr Adele Scott, an Advisory Officer – Professional Issues | Pou Tohutohu Mo Te Ringa Ngaio for the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers’ Association | Te Wehengarua
- Kevin Meyer, Head of Technology | Kaiarahi o te Whare at Otumoetai College in Tauranga and NZGTTA Vice President Mid North Island New Zealand
Our aim was to discuss the education and training of incoming technology teachers. We have been involved in conversations about this for years, but we wish to share with you all these perspectives of others working in this space and how these visions align for the betterment of the technology learning area.
Part 1: PPTA Te Wehengarua’s Role in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
Adele provided an overview of the PPTA’s involvement in ITE, focusing on the challenges and advocacy efforts for secondary teachers. The PPTA represents approximately 20,000 members, over 90% of all teachers working in public areas and secondary schools, alternative education and technology centres. Note that the second iteration of charter schools, where teachers may have no choice in whether their school converts to a charter model, may remain PPTA members.
Adele works in the PPTA policy team, engaging with members to understand key issues and staying informed about changes from the Teaching Council, NZQA and government (incl Ministry of Education) policies. The PPTA operates through an elected executive, with policies debated at an annual conference before being enacted the following year.
ITE History and Current Challenges
Until the mid-1990s to early 2000s, ITE was housed in standalone Colleges of Education, which collaborated through the Association of Colleges of Education. However, after teacher education was integrated into universities, this organisation disappeared, leaving a gap that the PPTA has attempted to address.
To bridge this gap, the PPTA has hosted two hui annually to facilitate information-sharing among ITE educators. Attendees from the major teacher education providers participate in these discussions. The next meeting is scheduled for 3rd March and will provide a platform for raising concerns at a higher level. As lecturers in the tertiary initial teacher education sector, if you have issues or concerns to bring to these hui, contact the head of programme secondary who will know who the current attendee is.
Competitive Landscape in ITE
Kerry highlighted the highly competitive nature of site-based teacher education, particularly in Auckland. The ITE Taskforce was established in response to this, as teacher education has shifted from a rigorous, structured model with up to 400 hours of pedagogy (before the Colleges of Education came under Universities) to a modularised format with significantly less contact time. Despite their already heavy workloads, teachers are expected to mentor student teachers for recompense that hasn’t changed in 20 years.
School/site-based models (including TeachFirst, Te Ako Mātātupu) present additional risks, particularly with Limited Authority to Teach (LAT) roles. The increasing reliance on alternative pathways has raised concerns about equity of access and the quality of teacher preparation.
ITE Taskforce and Key Focus Areas
The ITE Taskforce consists of 8-9 PPTA members, including Kevin, who have experience of various teacher training models, including overseas and online approaches, and TeachFirst initiatives. Key focus areas for the Taskforce Include:
- Guiding Principles for Practice: These five principles have been established to support PPTA policy and will be shared with all ITE providers to help guide quality teacher preparation.
- Mentoring and Teacher Acknowledgment: The current teacher mentoring rate is only $3.19 per hour, unchanged for 20 years, highlighting the need for fairer compensation.
- Claims Development Process: Ongoing negotiations for all members in secondary schools and area schools, technology centres and out-of-hours music and arts teachers. Senior leaders and principals in these settings can also be PPTA members.
- Student Teacher Membership: Student teachers can join the PPTA for free.
- Member Committees: These include leadership, middle leaders, ICT, and AI-focused groups.
- Field Service Support: PPTA field officers guide implementation and adherence to collective agreements. Offer professional development to members through PPTA branches and regions and offer some support to student teachers.
- Ethical Challenges: Schools face increasing pressures regarding student teachers who need to complete practicum placements at other schools and who are also employed under LAT contracts.
The Taskforce also provides advice for teachers moving across sectors. Primary teachers (years 1-8) are covered by NZEI, while secondary (years 9-13) and area school teachers (years 7-13) fall under PPTA.
The PPTA website includes a commitment to new teachers where principals sign a formal promise to give them the working conditions that they need to thrive.
Clarification on Teachers of Technology Centres
The agreement on teacher coverage explicitly includes:
- Specialist secondary teachers of technology for Years 7 and 8 in host schools or technology centres.
- A coverage definition of “predominantly” meaning 70% or more of a teacher’s weekly timetabled classroom teaching time.
- A resolution process involving the Ministry of Education, NZPPTA, NZEI, and NZ School Trustees Association to address any disputes.
Addressing the Teacher Shortage: Kevin’s Perspective
Kevin’s Involvement and Advocacy
As a vice-president of the New Zealand Graphics and Technology Teachers Association (NZGTTA), Kevin became involved in addressing the growing teacher shortage after realising that no one else was taking action. Working with key figures such as Glyn McGregor (who previously had managed the Techlink website, and had experience about the inner workings at the MoE), Kevin took the initiative to push for solutions. He attended an Industry Educational event in 2017 and met with Chris Hipkins and Jacinda Ardern in 2017 to highlight these issues. He has also served on the TeachNZ Scholarship panel, helping to score ITE trainees who apply for early childhood, primary, and secondary education teacher training awards.
Workforce Issues and Government Engagement
Initially, there was little recognition of workforce challenges within the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Council. However, the situation has changed, and an Issues Committee, which is made up of joint education sector organisations and government departments, has met three times in recent years with the aim of addressing teacher supply concerns.
Although the TeachNZ training awards have been in place for a long time, the way that the scoring of applicants is carried out for the specific teacher shortage areas has evolved considerably over the past five years. A targeted quota was introduced for Technology, STEM subjects and Early Childhood applicants.
There are two rounds of applications:
- The career changer round in September/ October which applies to applicants with at least 8 years of employment since leaving school and can be worth up to 10k in fees paid plus another 30k tax free in the form of bonded award payments.
- The January/February round, which is open to all applicants and has a 10k fees component and most recently also a 10k-15k training payment.
Advertising these awards and recruiting applicants through better advertising via subject associations. The Ministry promoted teaching scholarships solely through TikTok and Facebook.
Economic Barriers to Entering the Teaching Profession
Bex Howells, Head of the Paid Placements Campaign, has highlighted stark financial disadvantages trainee teachers face. Research shows unpaid placements lead to long-term financial costs, impacting career earnings and retirement savings.
- It takes 11 years for a teacher’s effective cumulative salary to exceed that of a minimum-wage worker.
- Compared to police officers (who receive paid training), teachers require 23 years to reach equivalent cumulative earnings.
- After 20 years, the average superannuation balance is $133k for teachers, significantly lower than the $468k accumulated by police officers.
- Public service roles with paid training (police, prison officers, Customs, and military) are predominantly male-dominated.
Bex argues that reintroducing paid training is essential for making the profession sustainable, reducing dropout rates, addressing workforce shortages, and closing an unreported gender pay gap. The full research paper can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/03036758.2025.2460575.
Final Reflections
Kevin stressed that while schools and the Ministry of Education remain central to discussions, the ultimate priority should be students. Without quality teacher preparation and support, attracting and retaining skilled educators will be difficult. The teacher shortage crisis will persist unless sustained efforts are made to improve recruitment, training, and retention strategies.
With there being over 560 secondary schools in NZ, 97 of which are in Auckland, we still need to encourage the recruitment and availability of pathways into this fantastic and rewarding career. Currently, there are approximately 217 untrained LAT’s in NZ secondary schools teaching Technology alone, and this widespread shortage of trained teachers is a reflection of the access to training pathways not keeping up with the retirement figures.
Next Steps
- To address workforce challenges, continued advocacy through PPTA and subject associations – TENZ, NZGTTA, DTTA, and HETTANZ.
- Strengthening teacher mentoring and increasing compensation for mentoring roles.
- Engaging with policymakers to ensure funding and stipends remain available.
- Evaluating new teacher training models, such as the proposed single-placement model by Open Polytechnic.
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