While teachers are leaving their profession in droves to find new, higher-paid jobs in other sectors, Peter Eaton is doing the complete opposite.
The information technology and electrical engineer was in a well-paid job at Fisher & Paykel, working in Mosgiel for a decade before moving to Mexico to help with the factory’s relocation.
A year later, he was back in Dunedin, working for the Fisher & Paykel Appliance centre at the Wall Street Mall.
"Although the move across to Mexico was really exciting, I figured out that the part that I really liked about my job was using technology to help people."
Unfortunately, his job had became more about working with people on the other side of the world and speaking different languages in different time zones.
At that point, a light switched on and he realised he wanted to use his skills for "those altruistic reasons".
"I looked around the education and teaching profession and thought, ‘Jeepers, they’re coming to grips with IT and the impact of technology on the world, and maybe someone like me might be of use’," he said.
"So I took a year off, cashed in some of my superannuation and trained as a teacher back here at Otago."
He taught at primary level for two years before moving to secondary level.
Now he is at Otago Boys’ High School, teaching digital technology and media studies — and he is loving every second of it.
Mr Eaton’s move to teaching bucks a long-term trend among teachers.
Teachers and principals have been leaving the profession in large numbers over the past two decades, and surveys show it is mainly due to a lack of work/life balance and burnout from high workload.
Pay is a lesser, but still significant, issue.
Many leaving teachers intend to move to non-teaching jobs, a few move overseas to teach, and a significant number leave the profession without knowing what their next move will be.
Mr Eaton said there had been a "realignment of salaries" recently, and he believed unions had done a great job of getting the work of teachers recognised in terms of salaries.
However, the pay was not the reason he joined the teaching profession.
"Yes I was being paid well [at F&P], but I was unhappy where I was, and I didn’t feel like I was making a difference.
"Here, I can help schools and young people come to grips with the impact of technology on our lives."
