Teacher shortages may not be so bad

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 7

Teacher shortages may not be so bad

PA Wellington Teacher shortages next year may not be as bad as first predicted, the Minister of Education, Mr Marshall, said yesterday. Mr Marshall said he would feel better about the situation if the Post-Prim-ary Teachers’ Association salary claim being heard today could be resolved quickly. Recent figures put the shortage at between 400 and 700 teachers, a position Mr Marshall described as “relatively serious, ” but he said he was told by his officials on Tuesday that the figure might be too pessimistic. He said he would have a

better idea of how many jobs were not filled towards the end of January, but added, “Frankly, I don’t think it will be as bad as some people think. “My tentative impression is that the number of people through our re-recruitment campaign may well be higher than we expected.” About 7000 schoolchildren could be without a teacher at any one time next year, although Mr Marshall said some would be attending correspondence schools. Overseas recruitment had been considered, he said. The P.P.T.A. has said a satisfactory pay claim was vital to the recruitment and

retention campaign. Mr Marshall said that adding the annual general adjustment of 15.5 per cent, awarded to all State servants, and a catch-up of about 4 per cent gave a figure of about 20 per cent, separate from the P.P.T.A.’s salary claim. While it was a “very tight time in terms of Government expenditure,” he said he was hopeful of progress on the claim. He would be "very sorry” if at the start of the next school year, industrial action by teachers was inevitable, and he doubted that was what the P.P.T.A. wanted.