Graduate Opportunities

New Zealand’s government-funded and private education system is divided into three main areas: early childhood education; compulsory schooling (divided into primary and secondary schooling); and tertiary education. Schools and tertiary institutes have considerable responsibility for their own governance and management, although they work within guidelines, requirements and funding arrangements set by central government.

People working in the education industry can work in roles ranging from early childhood teaching through to tertiary lecturing. There are also opportunities in specialised areas such as correspondence schooling, special education and early childhood services.

There are 36 public tertiary education institutes, including eight universities, 21 institutes of technology and polytechnics, four colleges of education and three wananga. There are also 895 private training providers, and 46 industry training organisations, which oversee apprenticeships.

Outlook

Employment opportunities in the education sector are expected to grow considerably over the next three to five years. The extent of growth will be influenced by government policies and funding, as well as public perception about the importance of education. Teacher training providers are offering extra student intakes, online courses and retraining courses to try and encourage people into the profession.

Major trends in the sector include:

• Early childhood, primary and secondary teachers are in demand in Auckland, because of its rapidly expanding population.
• The demand for qualified registered early childhood teachers increasing as all teachers in this sector have to be fully qualified and registered by 2012 (Government policies aimed at increasing pre-schoolers’ participation in early childhood education will also mean continuing employment opportunities in this sector).
• In addition to the shortage of primary teachers in Auckland, due to increasing school rolls, government policy and funding aimed at reducing pupil-teacher ratios means an additional 700 primary teachers will be needed in New Zealand from May 2008.
• Secondary teachers are in demand in the shortage subject areas of mathematics, te reo Maori, science and technology. The government has directed increased funding to these disciplines to encourage teachers to train in these areas.

Good employment opportunities exist for secondary teachers in a range of disciplines (in addition to the above shortage areas), as the population boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s has led to an increase in secondary student numbers. Although numbers will peak in 2008, a high number of teachers are due to retire around this time, and secondary teacher demand will continue beyond this time.

Industry at a glance:

• 163,000 employed in the sector (2007)
• 443,800 students enrolled in tertiary education (2006)
• 46% increase in early childhood teachers (2001-2005).

*Except where indicated, information and statistics for this profile drawn from the following sources: Statistics New Zealand; Business and Economic Research Ltd (BERL); Department of Immigration www.teachnz.govt.nz; www.educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz; and www.careers.govt.nz.