Pete Wilkinson: Lumsden's Northern Southland College Principal on the nationwide shortage of secondary school teachers

A principal says schools across the country are struggling to fill teaching roles.  

More than 400 principal and teaching roles are currently being advertised in the Education Gazette.  

In 2024 there were almost 1600 vacancies - a similar number to recent comparable years.  

Lumsden's Northern Southland College Principal Pete Wilkinson told Francesca Rudkin that traditionally, it's always been difficult to attract teachers to rural areas. 

But he says it's a nationwide problem now. 

Wilkinson says it's exceptionally hard to attract people into teaching and they have vacancies going unfilled for months, if not years. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's growing concerns some schools might not have enough teachers
before schools start back. On Monday, there were three hundred
and forty six full time vacancies across the country listed
on the Ministry of Education website, but the shortage is
expectant to worsen as the year goes on. Northern Southland
College Principal Pete Wilkinson joins me. Now, good morning, Pete,

(00:20):
thanks for your time.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
As Maria, Good morning Greensca.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Do you know why we're facing such a shortage?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, look at some old short effectors. There's plenty going
on in the education space and it's just teaching is
just not seen as as the same career are the
same as it used to be way back in the
day when we all started. We've got graduates that are
coming out that have got far of your opportunities elsewhere. Yeah,

(00:53):
there's just it's not what it used to be and
it's a really tough gig. So some people of voting
with their feet and I suppose we need to do
more in the space to attract to attract graduates, to
attract young people, good people into education.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Pete, is this across the board or mainly in rural
areas that there's a shortage.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Well, traditionally it was harder to attract people in rural areas.
And i'm and i'm a principle of a of a
of a small school in rural Southland, and we've always
had struggles, you know, attracting people and keeping people because
of the of the rural nature and and and you know,
young people want to be in the in the bigger
in the bigger centers. But no, this is this is
a nationwide problem. Exceptionally hard to attract people into into teaching.

(01:39):
And we have vacancies that are going unfilled for for months,
if not years.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
So Pete, how are you set up? How are you
set up then for the beginning of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
Look, this fluctuates from year to year, and and the
and the the biggest concern is that there are there
are people out there that are putting their hand up
to teach, but we're just not getting the quality that
we used to get. We can fill a hole. And
at the moment, you know, schools across the nation, not
just rural schools, but across the nation. We've got people
who are qualified to teach, but not not experts in

(02:14):
the areas that we require, and we're filling holes ad
hoc all over the place with people who are keen
to teach and keen to help out that that aren't
aren't exactly what we're after. My own personal example is that,
I mean, I've graduated in physical education years ago, and
we know that, and you's gone by. Physical education teachers
are very abductable and they end up teaching in all

(02:35):
sorts of different subject areas. Now. Now that's happening everywhere
the menta and the education sector is if you're qualified
and you're breathing, you're hired, which which is a pretty
sad state of affairs.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
So what do you do if you can't get the teachers?

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Do?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
You just have to settle.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
What you can? But there is there is, there is
a lot of settling, and there's actually a lot of
people who are who are good teachers who have retired
and are relief teaching, and we're we're calling in favors
and shoulders having these people to stay in education. It's
happened many times in my particular school, but it's happening everywhere.
We've got good people who, for all intents and purposes,

(03:11):
want to be retired and want to be stepping back,
and they are continually stepping up to help out. But
the flip side of that is that those same people
who we need for a relief teaching pool on for
day to day relief when you know, when teachers are
ill and that sort of thing, but they're not available.
So we're filling holes and overworking our teachers, our current
teaching staff who don't get to keep their their non

(03:32):
their non contact peryers that they're entitled to so we
can fill classes. We've got we've got people that are
teaching over over there over the allocated teaching timetable. We've
got principles that are stepping in, senior leaders that are
stepping in and teaching when it's just absolutely not ideal.
So it's all stock get measures.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, it's a short term and a long term problem,
isn't it? Is there anything the government can do to help?

Speaker 2 (03:54):
Look, this is multifaceted sort of things. You know, we
need to incentivize teaching. Just in preparation for this, I
I got speaking with a few quite a few staff
members and a few long term staff members that have
that have retired and relief teachers, and one said to me.
When I began teaching, I earned the same amount of
money as a backpench MP. Now there is no way

(04:17):
that teachers in this day and age are earning the
same at the top of the scale as a back
bench MP. No, we near it. So that's you know
that the whole and money is only part of the equation.
You know, we have successive governments that you know, we're
playing miago arounds of all sorts of educational things and
every three years we seem to pivot. Overseas other other

(04:38):
countries like Finland, they have a bipartisan approach to education,
so you're not constantly having to change tech. And in
this current environment, teachers are pretty wrecked and burnt out.
Hopefully not at this time of the year because we're
about to kick off again and get back into it
in twenty twenty five. But just yeah, it's all sorts
of things we have to do money as part of

(04:59):
the equation. Graduates coming out from a university, let's say
in the secondary space, when they do a teaching degree,
they do a degree first and then they can do
their teaching diploma, their their postgraduate qualification. They're not they're
voting with their fat they're going elsewhere, and it's got
to be a mixture of pay and conditions. We're just
not getting those young people saying, hey, I really want
to go into education, and yeah, there's all sorts of

(05:23):
things we could do to fix it, but a bipartisan
approach ways to improve the desire for people to want
to go teach.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
Oh, Pete, best of luck, Thank you so much for
your time this morning. That was Pete Wilkinson, Northern Southland
College principle. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge,
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