Auckland primary school puts five classes in hall with two staff amid relief teacher 'crisis'

The shortage of relief teachers in Auckland has been highlighted by the case of a primary school that had to put five classes in its hall with the principal and one teacher looking after the children for the day.

Finding a relief teacher is increasingly difficult in some areas of the country. 

In 2011, there were 8131 primary school relievers, but in 2017 that number had dropped to 6132.     

The Ministry of Education says new teachers are now more likely to take fixed-term or permanent roles. 

But the Auckland Primary Principals' Association calls the situation 'a crisis'. 

"In one case I know, there's been a school with five classes in the hall and the principal and a teacher looking after them for the day," Helen Varney, principal of the association told 1 NEWS.

Ms Varney says teachers are also taking longer off work due to increased stress levels.

“

We are very mindful of the fact that we need to increase the number of teachers overall

—  Education Minister Chris Hipkins |

"Schools are having to spilt classes. They're having to put several classes in with one teacher," Ms Varney said. 

Elsewhere, Porirua East School has just one reliever to call on.

When year five and six teacher Andrew Morris is sick, he still tries to work.

"There's a lot of pressure to come in. And you tell the children, I mean 'if you're sick don't come into school.' But when it's yourself you want to come in and make sure that you're doing the best thing for your kids," Mr Morris said.

The primary schools' union NZEI says the issue is a symptom of a wider teacher shortage, and to improve relief numbers, that needs to be fixed.

Attracting new teachers is the big challenge for Education Minister Chris Hipkins.

"We do want to have classrooms fully staffed. We are very mindful of the fact that we need to increase the number of teachers overall," he said. 

Mr Hipkins says the teaching workforce is ageing and more might move into relief work as they near retirement. 

Mr Morris said: "These days, I think if you're leaving teaching, you're leaving teaching because of the workload because of all the other things that are going on."