Principals concerned as teacher shortage bites

<h2>Principals across the country are concerned that the latest moves by Government to stem the teacher shortage won&&num;8217&semi;t be enough to fill the vacancies expected for the 2019 year&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>The New Zealand Principals&&num;8217&semi; Federation &lpar;NZPF&rpar; President&comma; Whetu Cormick&comma; said &&num;8216&semi;I am hearing from more and more stressed principals that they cannot secure teachers for vacancies in their schools&period;&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cormick said he has long pointed out the importance of raising the status of the profession&comma; after a decade of neglect and has repeatedly suggested a number of factors need addressing including reducing work loads&comma; substantial pay increases&comma; and increased support&comma; especially for severe behavioural issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I accept that this Government has acknowledged that the teacher shortage is a reality across the country and is doing everything it can to address the situation in the short term&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said Cormick&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Unfortunately the Ministry has not had a workforce strategy in the past to monitor and plan so that we could be assured of a sustainable workforce for the future&period; We had no data on which to predict the shortages we are now facing&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;That will be addressed for the future&comma; but it will take time&period; Meanwhile&comma; we need to ramp up our efforts to fill the vacancies in front of us&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;