A young teacher who is considering leaving Auckland for a job somewhere cheaper says a housing allowance would help him stay.
The education union, the PPTA, has tabled a claim with the Ministry of Education that would see teachers receive payments of up to $100 a week if they are working in expensive areas like Auckland and Queenstown.
Auckland teacher, Paul Stevens, told Morning Report the claim stresses real issues in teaching, including recruitment and retention.
"As a young teacher $100 would make a huge difference, it could be the difference between leaving the profession and staying."
He said it would be a deciding factor as he considers leaving Auckland.
"I think that it's a key part of the negotiations, it's something that I understand the members have supported across the country."
He said a lot of people in Auckland, particularly parents, can't make ends meet on the current teachers salary.
Young Auckland teacher welcomes allowance proposal
In the past, an Auckland allowance hadn't received strong support from the unions.
"In the past I think that we hadn't quite been at that crisis point where our members across the country were necessarily seeing the need for it," said Mr Stevens.
The allowance would be in addition to pay rises for all teachers regardless of where they were living.
"That's really to recognise that we're wanting to have the ability for teachers to live in the communities that they're working in.
"Being a teacher is to give back to a community and so the ability to live in that community and put roots down in that community is something that we should be making possible for teachers."
The proposal covers teachers who are renting or in the early years of a mortgage, not all teachers in Auckland.