Teacher Movement
Information on teachers entering (both new teachers and those returning after a break) and leaving teaching.
Introduction
In 2018, the Ministry released a new set of teacher workforce data series based on annual data rather than the previously used point in time series. As part of improving our information base we are developing a teacher movement data series from this annual teacher workforce data to describe the ways in which teachers move into teaching, move between positions and schools and leave teaching.
This is the first set of the series and includes those who are entering the regular teaching workforce, and those who were in permanent and fixed term positions and are no longer in the teacher workforce. These measures are useful as they:
- Help identify the extent to which the teacher workforce is being replenished by newly trained teachers vs those who have taught previously
- Provide an indication of the characteristics and numbers of teachers who are no longer involved in any form of teaching in state and integrated schools.
Entering Rate
In 2018, 4,040 teachers entered the regular teaching workforce, of which 2,114 entered the primary school level and 1,926 entered the secondary school level.
Entering rates at primary and secondary school levels gradually increased from 2011 to 6.1% and 7.4%, respectively, in 2018 (Figure 1).
Since 2011, the national rate of regular teachers entering the workforce (entering rate) have been increasing. In 2018, the national entering rate increased to 6.7%.
Figure 1: Entering rates by sector (2005 - 2018)
At primary school level, there were increases in entering rates of all three types of entering teachers since 2011. New-trained teachers entering the workforce had the greatest increase and accounted for the majority of the entering teachers.
Figure 2: Primary teacher entering rates, by type of entry (2005 - 2018)
At secondary school level, there were also increases for all three types of entering teachers since 2011. New-trained teachers account for the majority of the entering teachers. However, Returning teachers had the greatest rate increase in 2018 (up from 2.3% of teachers to 2.7%).
Figure 3: Secondary teacher entering rates, by type of entry (2005 - 2018)
Regionally, the majority of the teachers entering the workforce were concentrated in five regions with the highest populations (refer to the chart below). Since 2011, there were increases in entering rates in all five regions with Auckland experiencing the sharpest increase.
Figure 4: Entering rates by region (2005 - 2018)
Leaving Rate
In 2018, 3,267 teachers left the regular teaching workforce, of which 1,706 left the primary school level and 1,561 left the secondary school level.
Leaving rates vary over time but have consistently been between 4.0% and 7.0% since 2011. In 2018, the national leaving rate decreased to 5.5%.
The leaving rate at primary school level has always been lower than that of secondary school level. Leaving rates at primary and secondary school levels decreased to 5.0% and 6.0%, respectively, in 2018.
Figure 5: Leaving rates by sector (2005 - 2018)
Regionally, the majority of the teachers leaving the workforce were concentrated in the five regions with the highest populations. Since 2011, there were decreases in leaving rates in four of these five regions. The exception was Waikato where the leaving rate remained higher than 2011 but had a slight decrease in 2018.
Figure 6: Leaving rates by region (2005 - 2018)
Teacher Movement by Selected Dimensions
This spreadsheet provides a time series of Teacher Head Count and FTTE in a single table for each state and state integrated schools.
- Entry and Leaving Movement of Regular Teachers 2005-2018 [MS Excel 405kB]
Teacher Movement Definitions and Methodologies
Sector:
Teachers are grouped into the primary or secondary sector depending on the type of the school they work in. The primary sector includes all primary schools, intermediates and special schools. The secondary sector includes all secondary schools and composite schools (including Te Kura, the correspondence school).
Regional Council:
The regional council area the school of the teacher is located in. Regional council boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand.
Regular Teachers:
Teachers who are employed on a fixed term or permanent basis in state or state integrated schools. Teachers in day relief positions or employed in private schools are excluded.
Entering teachers:
Regular teachers who are teaching in the workforce and were not teaching in the previous year.
This includes:
- New teachers - those who have never taught previously in state and state integrated schools. New teachers who have completed their teaching qualifications and training are New-trained, while those who have not are New-untrained.
- Returning teachers – those who have previously taught in a state and state integrated school but have had a break from teaching for at least one “full” calendar year.
Entering Rate:
The number of teachers entering in a year as a proportion of the total number of teachers in that year. For example, the 2018 teacher entering rate formula:
Leaving Teachers:
Teachers who are employed on a fixed term or permanent basis in state or state integrated schools. Teachers in day relief positions or employed in private schools are excluded.
Leaving Rate:
The number of teachers leaving in a year as a proportion of the total number of teachers in the previous year. For example, the 2018 teacher leaving rate formula:
Comparing Entering and Leaving Rates:
The entering and leaving rates cannot be directly compared because their rates are calculated using different denominators. The entering rate calculates the proportion of teachers entering the workforce in a particular year, while the leaving rate calculates the proportion of teachers from the previous year that are no longer working in the reporting year (see denominators in above formula). The two rates thus refer to proportions of populations of teachers from different years and are thus not directly comparable.
Comparing Number of Teachers Entering and Leaving:
Whilst it is possible to compare the numbers of regular teachers entering and leaving the workforce it is important to note that these are not the only ways in which the regular teaching workforce can contract and expand. There is also a lot of movement of teachers between the regular workforce and day relief which impacts on the size of the regular teaching workforce.
Limitations of the New Teacher Movement Data Series:
It is important to note that movements into, out of and within the teacher workforce are impacted by a range of factors including changing demand for teachers and external labour market conditions.
Additionally, changes in any one aspect of the workforce may affect another, for example, a decrease in the number of teachers leaving teaching may lead to a decrease in teachers entering teaching as there are fewer available positions.
We will release the next iterations of the data series over coming months to look at teachers shifting between permanent / fixed term and day relief positions and teachers moving between schools / regions. The teacher movement (between regions) data series will be available in July 2019.