chances of jobs in primary teaching.........not a lot

rodders · Valued Member Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 134

New Zealand teachers' colleges are producing twice the number of primary teachers the country needs, Ministry of Education figures reveal.

While the number of graduates remained relatively constant – at 2835 in 2001 and 2667 in 2002 – only 1457 new primary teachers got jobs in 2001 and only 1411 in 2002.

Numbers for last year are not yet available.

The Christchurch College of Education is the most prolific teachers' college in the country producing 733 graduates in 2001 and 668 in 2002.

It has campuses in Christchurch, Nelson, Rotorua and Greymouth and students can also study extramurally.

The college's primary programmes director, Barry Brooker, conceded teaching graduates exceeded job vacancies, but said graduates still left with a very good degree particularly for people-based jobs. He thought quotas restricting teachers' college places were likely.

Primary school teacher Kylie Sargisson, from Christchurch, said most new teachers went relieving, hoping they would eventually pick up work.

"People don't bother applying for jobs because they know there will be about 150 applicants for each job," she said. "It is like a lottery."

Sargisson spent six months trying to get a job in New Zealand after she graduated four years ago, before giving up and heading to London. She has taught at a London primary school for three and a half years and would like to come back to New Zealand but doubts whether she would get a job. "It (teacher training) has turned into a money-making industry," she said.

Christchurch College of Education second-year primary teacher trainee Matthew Whiting, 27, entered the course knowing it would be hard to get a job when he graduated. "I always wanted to be a teacher," he said. "If I can't get a job in New Zealand I will go straight to England or Taiwan."

Whiting said the idea that primary graduates could get jobs in main centres such as Auckland was not true. "There are too many institutes providing teaching courses," he said. "I would be surprised if 30 per cent of new teachers get a job. The best you can do is look outside teaching. It is very frustrating."

Canterbury Primary Principals Association president and Cashmere Primary School principal Jacqui Duncan said it would be a "tragedy" to restrict primary teacher training numbers because it would be going back to "centralised control".

"I know it must be very frustrating for graduates but you do have to go into these things with your eyes open," she said. NZ Principals' Federation spokesman Kelvin Squire said it was difficult to get a teaching job in rural New Zealand.

"I get between 50 and 60 applications for a job," he said. "That's in Stratford."

Squire said the teaching industry was losing "rich resources" as graduates left to teach overseas or decided on another career because they could not get work.

Education minister Trevor Mallard said a moratorium had been put on the number of new teacher training providers in 2000.

Mallard said providers were expected to meet the demand for primary teachers.

"But we don't have direct control over the numbers of trainees they take on and obviously the situation can change over a three-year period," he said.

"We hope that providers take on board the supply-demand situation and make intending trainees aware of this when they enrol.

"Intending trainees have to think ahead to consider their job prospects as would any other graduate when there is potential for over-supply."

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2820294a10,00.html

r+j · Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2004 9:28 am Post subject:

this sounds a bit worrying.

It seems strange that Primary teaching in Canterbury is on the OSL and this would be our way of getting work visa's if we get a job offer.

i'll have to research further

J

rodders · Valued Member Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 134

worrying and crazy. Nutcase

100 or so applicants for every job in the cities by the look of it and a bit less in rural areas. nzis doesn't exactly seem to be on the ball.

Arlevien · I Like It Here Joined: 12 Dec 2003 Posts: 56

rodders · Valued Member Joined: 25 Nov 2003 Posts: 134

primary teachers is the only job i've read about this problem for arlevien. what other jobs do you think this might be a problem for?

JCM · Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 10:41 am Post subject:

Hi rodders,

It seems that colleges and universities in New Zealand are getting a bit of a reputation for being more concerned with attracting students (and their fees) than taking account of employment opportunities post-graduation.

Over-qualified and underpaid

17.11.2003
By MARK STORY
With 2000 nursing vacancies around the country, you'd think new graduates would walk straight into jobs and start attacking their student debt.

But, says Nurses Organisation chief executive Geoff Annals, with the major employer of nurses - public hospitals - favouring experience and some specialisation over youthful exuberance, many graduate nurses struggle to get jobs.

Having paid their way through training only to discover they can't find work, graduates can be forgiven for taking their expertise to offshore markets, he says.

The new nurses' plight, says David Penny, team director with Industry New Zealand, is shared by countless graduates from universities and polytechnics across the country who discover there's nothing at the end of their course but unpaid debt.

With the under-skilled and over-qualified accounting for most of the country's unemployed, he's convinced wholesale training providers are more concerned about "bums on seats" than meeting industry needs.

"Any student with a $15,000-$20,000 debt is starting life with a pretty waggy load," says Penny. "If a graduate can move into a job commensurate with their loan, that's okay. But if having done all that study, they still start out on a junior rung, either the qualification is flawed or is not matched to the needs of our employment market."

Adding insult to injury, explains Penny, many graduates have to train further, and take on more debt, before employers consider them useful. There's no better example of this dilemma, says aviation veteran Frank Parker, than helicopter pilot training. He suspects that only five of the 50 commercial helicopter pilots to graduate last year will find jobs in New Zealand.

On a weekly wage of $350, Parker says entry-level pilots will struggle to service the interest on their whopping $80,000-$100,000 student loans, let alone pay living expenses.........................................................

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/employment/employmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3534560&thesection=employment&thesubsection=employment&thesecondsubsection=