Abstract:
This study sought to identify the reasons for the current teacher shortage in New Zealand by exploring the perspectives and experiences of New Zealand primary school teachers. Although there is an abundance of international literature on the topic of teacher attrition and retention, national literature is scarce. A group of eight experienced teachers were interviewed who have been trained in New Zealand and have had experience in New Zealand primary schools for a minimum of five years. Semi-structured interviews provided in-depth insights into their perspectives and experiences as to why and how they were able to remain in the profession and why they were seeing many of their colleagues leave. They believed that the current teacher shortage was due to a decreased appreciation of teachers as professionals in society, something which is causing many teachers to decide to leave. They raised concerns that an underestimation of the emotional and physical difficulties of the profession has led to schools and the government providing inadequate support for teachers; this causes many professionals to lose motivation and experience burnout. The factors for attrition and retention for teachers in New Zealand supported the empirical international literature on attrition and retention. However, the study contradicted the literature around teacher shortages where significant recruitment of teachers was seen to be the solution to counteract the phenomenon. While there was a lack of understanding of teachers on the part of school management, society, and the government, teachers also lacked understanding of the political factors which influenced themselves. Therefore, the study raises important implications which may aid to reconcile the disconnection between teachers and the society. Increasing the quality of communication between the teachers and the society was seen as one of the most crucial challenges to overcome the current teacher shortage crisis in New Zealand.
