Erica Stanford: Education Minister on the Government's efforts to attract more teachers

The Education Minister says several factors are at play in making teaching an increasingly attractive career option. 

New figures released to Newstalk ZB show the teaching workforce increased 2.5% last year – the largest annual increase since records began back in 2009. 

First-time enrolments in teaching courses are also up, 6.3%. 

Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking the Government's doing several things to attract and retain teachers. 

She says that includes good resources, world-leading professional learning and development, on-site training programmes, and paying teacher fees. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From our numbers don't lie. File good news from education
as we find out we have more teachers entering schools
than in the past twenty years. So the workforce has
grown by eighteen hundred last year, largest year on year
increase since two thousand and nine, that's when records began.
Educational Minister Erica Stamford's with us morning, good morning, correct
me if I'm wrong. Eighteen hundred and sixty four in
total eleven twenty eight and primary seven thirty six and secondary.

(00:21):
Is that balanced? Is that sort of what we need?

Speaker 2 (00:25):
That is sort of what we need, and it is
starting to plug a gap. And you know, we're creating
this world leading education system people want to be a
part of. We do have a shortage of primary and
secondary school teachers, and I think that these numbers are
starting to arrest that decline and more people are wanting
to get into education to change lives.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
What's changed, Well, there's.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
A number of factors that have changed, but I mean,
essentially teachers want to go into teaching right to change lives,
and we are helping them to do that. We've got
a world leading curriculum, all of the incredible resources for
free that go along with it all of this amazing
well leading professional learning and development, and just announced this
huge learning support package and that has certainly helped. Look

(01:08):
on top of that, we've invested really heavily into on
site training programs. We're paying teacher fees. You know, there's
a number of things that have gone into making this,
you know, a profession that people want to go into.
We're really focused on making sure that we're talking up
how incredible it is to be a teacher and to
change lives. But I think a big part of it

(01:30):
is all of the resourcing that's going in at the moment.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
What's the breakdown at locals v immigrants and does it matter?

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Look, I certainly want to grow our own. We know
that last year we had a substantial increase, just over
six point three percent increase in young people studying at
initial teacher education. This year, from this is just provisional
figures so far, it's a twenty seven percent increase. So
we are seeing more and more young people choosing to

(02:00):
go into education and be part of this world leading
education system. But we are bolstering the numbers, of course
by overseas teachers. Then we have to do that at
the moment and we probably will continue to need to
do into the future as well.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
If you gave the numbers for the average income for
a teacher, do you think most people, like my good self,
would be surprised at the figures? Well, it's not a
bad do it now.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
When I ask people what do you think it is,
they always guess a lot lower, which I think is telling.
But the numbers are. You know, it is a tough job,
and we do expect a huge amount of our teachers,
and they are changing lives, and so we need to
be making sure we're paying them more every single pay round,
which we've committed to do. But I don't think most
people do know what the average teacher.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Is on ninety four for a primary teacher, average one
hundred and one for a secondary teacher, a principal at
secondary two hundred thousand dollars. That's serious money.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Yeah, well, and they work extraordinarily hard for that and
they do an amazing job.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
Good Well, I'm glad we're getting somewhere. We're on a
path here, Erica. Do you think we are?

Speaker 2 (03:02):
And Mike, I've been overseas and I have been the
Minister's of Education from all around the world, come up
to me. They know what we're doing. They're watching what
we're doing. We are world leading in our curriculum and
in our resourcing and our shifts in the way that
we're teaching to that explicit structured learning. People are watching us.
It is world leading and it's exciting to be a.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Part of good. All right, nice to talk to your
Minister of Education at Erica Stampon. Remember those words next
time you hear a unionist on the news. For more
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