English New Zealand chairperson Darren Conway says most schools had been forced to sack staff and cancel leases as their student numbers declined in the past two-and-a-half years. Photo: RNZ / John Gerritsen
English language schools are racing to find teachers and homestay accommodation as their enrolments bounce back.
English New Zealand chairperson Darren Conway said there were about 2500 English language students in the country, which was about half the pre-pandemic number for this time of year and well up on the few hundred that remained before the borders fully reopened.
Conway said the sector had expected to bounce back reasonably quickly because most its students were not long-term students and could decide to study in New Zealand relatively quickly.
However, he said most schools had been forced to sack staff and cancel leases as their student numbers declined in the past two-and-a-half years and now they had to find more teaching space, more teachers, and more student accommodation such as hostels and homestays.
He said there was particular demand for staff and accommodation.
"I know that we are hunting for both all of the time in all of the English New Zealand schools. Obviously to stay open we're keeping just ahead of the staffing crisis but it is pretty much a crisis and with homestays we are scratching around to find hosts for students as they come in," he said.
Conway said some families that previously offered homestays no longer wanted to do so, sometimes because they were worried about the risk of catching Covid-19 from a stranger.
He said, before the pandemic, language schools would have a surplus of homestays so they could place students at late notice, but that had become more difficult.
"We have to say to some students sure we can take your enrolment if you can find accommodation of your own through Air B and B or some other avenue but otherwise we're having to turn some enrolments away," he said.
Conway said schools needed staff not only to teach English, but also to take enrolments and organise accommodation.
He said most of the sector's source markets appeared to be back to normal, apart from Latin America where a lack of flights to New Zealand appeared to be affecting enrolments.
Conway said traditionally about 20-30 percent of the sector's students were on tourist visas, about 10-15 percent were on working holiday visas, and 50-60 percent were on study visas.
English language schools enrolled nearly 29,000 students a year prior to the pandemic.