New Zealand's education and training services sector may soon face staff shortages, with potential employees finding the industry less attractive, research from the world's second-largest human resources service provider shows.
Employer branding research by Dutch HR company Randstad Award shows the attractiveness of working as a teacher, lecturer, early childhood educator, or within businesses and organisations in the education sector, had declined for the third consecutive year.
Based on the public perception of 7975 New Zealanders of working age, only 32.02% of respondents said they would like to work in the sector in 2015, compared with 32.52% last year and 34.2% in 2013.
Randstad New Zealand manager Brien Keegan said despite the drop the education and training services sector remained the most attractive sector in New Zealand, ahead of the professional services and the information technology and telecommunications sectors.
He believed the drop in attractiveness of the education and training services sector could be explained by changes in New Zealand's economy.
''At the height of the global financial crisis, the education and training services sector was perceived by many potential employees as being a stable industry which provided good job security, unlike many other sectors at the time.
''As a result, we saw an increase in the number of people retraining in order to enter the sector.
''However, as the New Zealand economy continues to grow and stability has returned to many sectors, we have seen the appeal of the education and training services sector decrease,'' Mr Keegan said.
The sector was linked with the New Zealand population, and as the population grew, so would the sector, he said.
''In order to avoid staff shortages, companies and organisations within the sector must refocus their recruitment and retention strategy to ensure that it is able to attract key talent.
''The old adage that teachers are teaching the leaders of tomorrow is a poignant reminder that it is essential this sector is able to recruit and retain its top talent.''
Ministry of Education student achievement deputy secretary Dr Graham Stoop was not concerned by the statistics.
He said the number of students graduating with teaching degrees remained high compared with graduates in other disciplines.
In 2014, there were 14,500 students enrolled in a teaching qualification.
''While currently there is an overall ease of supply of teachers, there is still a high demand for teachers in subject areas such as te reo Maori, secondary sciences, maths and hard material technology.
''Like other professions, such as law and commerce, teaching is now a competitive career.
''There are more than 103,000 registered teachers in New Zealand and the sector has a high retention rate.
''Nationally, we expect there will be an increased demand for teachers as the number of schools and school rolls are predicted to rise, particularly in Auckland,'' Dr Stoop said.
The ministry was also expecting there to be growth in international demand for talented teachers, with the present economic recovery and growth of English-medium education around the world, he said.
