15 Oct 2018

Working in NZ classroom 'depressing' - UK teacher

From Morning Report, 6:39 am on 15 October 2018

A British teacher who came to New Zealand to work in a secondary school is questioning the government's drive to recruit teachers off shore to shore-up teacher numbers. The government has increased its 2019 target for recruiting overseas teachers from 400 to 900 in a bid to meet the 850 shortfall of teachers expected next year. Steve McCabe, from Britain, is the type of person the government is after. He was hired in 2009 as a physics and science teacher at a South Auckland high school but he says the experience was so depressing he moved into teaching at a polytechnic. Steve McCabe says the recruitment drive is a temporary solution and there needs to be signifnat changes to the teachers workloads to stop teachers burning out.