The Associate Education Minister is offering to meet secondary principals who say schools are at breaking point with the stress of staff shortages and student absences.
The leaders of ten regional principals associations have sent an urgent 'SOS' to the government asking for help engaging rangatahi who are drifting away from school for good and to clarify how it will help students pass NCEA this year.
Colleges also says they're struggling with acute lack of relievers, young teachers heading off shore and an aging workforce.
"I know how the relieving system worked from my own practice as a school principal back in the day and I know that it can be a bit ad hoc," Tinetti said.
"So we're looking at ways that we can streamline that system, but also the Ministry has worked with the Teaching Council to speed up the processing time of new teacher registrations and including the limited authority to teach.
"Back when I was a principal, we used to have some amazing support staff who could come in and work as relievers. So having that limited authority to teach, when we are desperate for relievers, is one plausible option that we could look at."
