Piopio College has looked backwards to deal with a staffing issue.
Encouraging teachers who have moved on to other professions, or retired, to assist on the frontline has helped provide cover in his staffroom, principal Ben Draper, said.
“It’s still tough to find staff, particularly maths teachers. So, we’ve had a retired teacher coming in to upskill some of our teachers who don’t specialise in maths. We have two – one’s in and one’s starting in about two weeks’ time. It’s worked very well.”
The News reported last week that King Country schools were struggling to attract teachers to move into the district.
Draper said another strategy to combat the problem had also worked.
“Because we couldn’t fill the maths role, we had our Year 13s doing maths with a tutor online and a primary school teacher at our school helping them at the same time. The result has been some of the best grades for term one.”
Draper sympathises with Āria School principal, Pam Voyce, who shared her difficulties attracting quality teachers last week.
“I agree with Pam – it is extremely hard to staff schools and near on impossible in rural areas. Āria School is a bit more rural than us, which would make it harder, but everyone is struggling to find good full time teachers.”
In some ways, high schools have a tougher task filling roles. However, Piopio College has found another simple, yet effective solution to this.
“It can be more difficult for secondary schools as they’re usually trying to find subject specialists,” Draper said. “But we actively seek primary school teachers because they’re very adaptable, able to teach across multiple subjects rather than just in their core area.
“Some secondary schools may prefer specialists, but in a rural school, they have to teach across [various] subjects anyway.”
More time away from class to learn and plan is another bonus for primary teachers at Piopio College, Draper said.
The best solution for a lack of qualified teachers is elementary – more need to be trained. However, provided they are open to learning as well as teaching, primary teachers can expect a warm welcome at Piopio College, he said.
“Generally, teachers these days understand that it’s only after they qualify that the real learning begins. We can definitely help with that.”
