Sunday, April 22, 2012

New teachers without jobs-- don't waste this reosurce!

Over the last couple of years there has been an effort to train new teachers. Now that they have completed their study, they find that they cannot get jobs. Is this not a perfect opportunity to ‘revitalize’ the work force? We are regularly told that the average age of teachers is slowly creeping towards the 50 mark. There are also many schools that could benefit from an influx of young or freshly trained teachers.
If we do not find jobs for these ‘new’ teachers, then we are going to lose them to other professions or they will go overseas. What a waste of a valuable resource.
We must find jobs for these teachers in the short term. Yes, it is expensive but not as bad as having to train another cohort because the recently trained teachers have gone. It would take little planning to find positions for these teachers, even if it is on a short-term contract. I am not talking about ‘casualizing them,’ but simply retaining them so that schools around NZ can benefit.
For a stat--- how many of them could be employed to address the ‘reading levels,’ of our students in many schools, especially in the lower decile ones. Is this not a chance to fill in some gaps? A student who can’t read, has huge difficulties and usually becomes a discipline problem and the flow on affect is massive for other students.
Let’s not lose this chance--- act now!

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