Auckland will keep losing teachers due to the overheated housing market, until there is a financial incentive to stay, says a science teacher joining the exodus out of the city.
Photo: 123rf.com
Auckland schools have blamed the high cost of housing in the city for difficulties in attracting teachers, with the recruiting process described as a "nightmare" by principals.
In the latest example, Mt Albert Grammar School is losing three teachers, who are all moving to jobs which pay the same but are in centres where they say they can afford to buy a house and possibly have a family.
Jenny Bates is one of those teachers, and is moving to Hamilton when the year finishes up.
She told Checkpoint with John Campbell that she loved the school, the students and her colleagues, but she felt she had no choice.
She was moving to Hamilton so she could afford to buy a house, she said.
"There needs to be an incentive to keep teachers in Auckland, or to attract teachers to Auckland, whether that incentive is an accommodation subsidy or a slightly-higher pay, it needs to happen. There needs to be something that keeps people here, because they are going to keep losing them."
Ms Bates said it did not make sense for her to stay in Auckland.
