The Labour Party is calling for the government to spend more promoting teaching as a career, saying under-funding has contributed to the Auckland teacher shortage.
Auckland schools say they have trouble recruiting enough good-quality teachers. Photo: 123RF
Official figures show the Education Ministry's TeachNZ division spent $1.9 million promoting and advertising teaching in the 2008-2009 financial year, when the government says vacancy levels peaked.
In each of the past four years it has spent less than half that amount - between $760,000 and $850,000 per year. TeachNZ also cut two positions in Auckland.
Auckland schools say they have trouble recruiting enough good-quality teachers to fill their vacancies because people are put off by the city's high house prices and bad traffic.
Recruitment agencies have warned hiring teachers from countries like the United Kingdom could become increasingly difficult, as it faced its own teacher shortages.
Labour Party education spokesman Chris Hipkins said the government had plenty of warning a shortage was coming in Auckland. It should have increased TeachNZ's spending.
"It's a shame that they haven't done anything so far, but it's not too late, it's time for them to step up and do more," he said.
Mr Hipkins said advertising was not the only thing needed to increase the supply of good teachers, but it would have helped.
Education Minister Hekia Parata said the government had started a $9m package to improve teacher supply over the next four years.
The spending included advertising campaigns and scholarships to encourage science and maths graduates to become teachers.
"The ministry is also running a social media campaign promoting teaching to science, technology and maths graduates as well a campaign encouraging New Zealand teachers to return from overseas."
Ms Parata said some schools were finding it hard to appoint teachers, but vacancies were not at the levels seen during the last shortage period, which was in 2008-2009.
"Right now we have enough overall numbers of teachers, but not necessarily in the areas or subjects that we need them in," Ms Parata said.
"In Auckland, vacancy rates are still relatively low as a percentage of the total Auckland teacher workforce (1.2 to 1.5 percent) and are not at the level they were in 2009/10."
Educational Institute president Lynda Stuart is the principal of an Auckland primary school.
She was not sure more advertising would make much difference in Auckland. Other things needed to happen.
"That's not necessarily giving more money to people, it's around looking at some creative solutions around actually enabling people to be able to live and work in those areas."
The managing director of recruitment agency Education Personnel, Stuart Birch, said the UK, which was a big source country for overseas-trained teachers, had shortages of its own.
"It's not only the UK, there's certain areas of Australia and the US where demand for teachers is really high, and particularly in those STEM areas," he said.
However, Mr Birch said there was a good response to vacancies from overseas teachers because many of them regarded New Zealand as an attractive country to live and work.