Teacher Workforce

Demographic information on teachers in state and state integrated schools.

Teaching staff reported here include all employees on a teaching agreement.  Teachers who work in multiple roles are reported against the role in which they worked the most hours during the year.

The size of the teaching workforce can be measured either as a headcount or in terms of full-time teacher equivalents (FTTE).  FTTE data are only available from 2014 onwards - data from previous years are not comparable due to changes in definitions.

More information about this collection can be found on the Schooling Workforce Data Collection page.

Overview of 2018 teaching data

Interactive Dashboard

The dashboard can show headcount or full time teacher equivalent (FTTE) data.  This is changed by the “Display” buttons to the right of the dashboard.  By default this is set to headcount.

The buttons at the top of the dashboard control what is on the bottom axis of the graph. To filter the data use any of the Region, School or Teacher filters on the left. To switch between the filters use the buttons titled "Region", "School" and "Teacher".  By default the dashboard only shows data from the most recent year.  To select other years use the dropdown in the top left (under “Filters”).

The “Colour By” buttons to the right of the dashboard allow a second group to be displayed on the graph.

Data can be shown with or without day relief.  By default day relief is set to “No”; meaning they are not counted in the graph.  In general day relief are excluded from routine analysis because they are a casual workforce and numbers can vary depending on cover required because of sickness or other activities.  Selecting “Yes” shows only day relief data.  Select “Yes” and “No” to show regular teacher data and day relief.

You can expand the dashboard by pressing the ⤢ icon in the bottom right corner of the dashboard.

Read the instructions (pdf 69kB) for more guidance on using the Teaching Staff dashboard.

Time Series for Teaching Staff

This spreadsheet provides a time series of Teacher Head Count and FTTE in a single table for each state and state integrated schools.

Teaching Staff by Selected Dimensions

NOTE: The data reflects the current ethnicity of the teaching workforce.

 

Prioritised Ethnicity

The Ministry uses Statistics New Zealand's definition of ethnicity: ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups that people identify with or feel they belong to. Ethnicity is a measure of cultural affiliation, as opposed to race, ancestry, nationality or citizenship.

Our preference is to report ethnic group by Total Response, that is, a teacher is counted in each ethnic group they affiliate with, but, only once in the total.  This is what occurs in the main statistical tables above.

The table below has been generated using prioritised ethnicity.  Here an individual is allocated to one of the six main ethnic groupings even though they have identified with more than one ethnicity. This allocation is performed using a predetermined order of ethnic groupings. For this table teachers are prioritised in the order of Māori, Pacific, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, African), other groups except European/Pākehā and European/Pākehā.

NOTE: The data reflects the current ethnicity of the teaching workforce.

.

Teaching Staff Data Dimension Notes

Age Group:
The age of the teacher, in ten year age-groups. Age is calculated as at 1 July for each year.

Decile:
The decile assigned to the school where the employee works their main teaching role for the year.

Students from low socio-economic communities face more barriers to learning than students from high socio-economic communities. Schools that draw their roll from these low socio-economic communities are given greater funding to combat these barriers. The mechanism used to calculate and allocate this additional funding is most often known as school deciles.

Schools are assigned a socio-economic score based on five census derived socio-economic factors. The 10 percent of schools with the lowest scores are considered decile 1 schools, the next 10 percent of schools are considered decile 2 schools, etc. Decile 1 schools have the highest proportion of low SES students.

Designation:
The designation description relating to the main role an employee holds.

Education Region:
The Education Region linked to the school where the employee works their main teaching role for the year.  These are ten administrative regions created by the Ministry of Education and aligned with the Ministry's ten local offices. The Correspondence School is defined as a separate boundary.

Ethnic Group:
The Ministry uses Statistics New Zealand's definition of ethnicity: ethnicity is the ethnic group or groups that people identify with or feel they belong to. Ethnicity is a measure of cultural affiliation, as opposed to race, ancestry, nationality or citizenship.

Ethnicity can be presented as:

  • Total Response, where a teacher is counted in each ethnic group they affiliate with, but, only once in the total.
  • Prioritised, where a teacher is allocated to one of the ethnicities they have recorded they affiliate with.  This allocation is performed using a predetermined order of Māori, Pacific, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American and African), other groups except European/Pākehā, and European/Pākehā.
Our preference is to report ethnic group by Total Response. Data are presented using both options.
.

Ethnicity:

Table 1: Descriptions of Ethnicity
Ethnicity Grouping Ethnicity Descriptions
Māori NZ Māori
Pacific Samoan
  Cook Island Māori
  Tongan
  Niuean
  Tokelauan
  Fijian
  Other Pacific Island
Asian Chinese
  Indian
  Other Asian
  Japanese
  Korean
  Filipino
  Cambodian
  Vietnamese
  Siri Lankan
  Other Asian
European South Slav
  British/Irish
  Dutch
  Greek
  Polish
  South Slav
  German
  Australia
  Italian
  NZ European
MELAA African
  Latin American
  Middle Eastern
No Response No Response
  Unknown

.

First Qualified:
The number of trained teachers who we identify as new to the state and state integrated teacher workforce.  This picks up teachers who have worked as untrained previously.

Gender:
The gender of the teacher.

Regional Council:
The Regional Council linked to the school where the employee works their main teaching role for the year. Regional council boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand.

School Authority:
The Authority, state or state integrated, linked to the school where the employee works their main teaching role for the year.  Other Vote: Ed is a state school.

School Type:
The school type linked to the main role an employee works in for the year. School types are usually based on Year Levels; and include full primary school, composite school, and secondary school.

Sector:
Teachers are grouped into the primary or secondary sector depending on the type of the school they work in as their main role for the year.  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).

Tenure:
A teacher’s employment status, this indicates whether a teacher is employed on a fixed-term, permanent or day relief basis and whether they work full-time or part-time.

Territorial Authority:
The territorial authority area linked to the school where the employee works their main teaching role for the year. Territorial authority boundaries are defined by Statistics New Zealand.

Urban/Rural:
A grouping based on the size and nature of the area of the school where the employee works their main teaching role for the year.  These groupings are based on Statistics New Zealand definitions:

  • Main Urban:
    Main urban areas are very large urban areas centred on a city or major urban centre. Main urban areas have a minimum population of 30,000.
  • Secondary Urban:
    Secondary urban areas have a population between 10,000 and 29,999 and are centred on the larger regional centres.
  • Minor Urban:
    Minor urban areas are urbanised settlements (outside main and secondary urban areas), centred around smaller towns with a population between 1,000 and 9,999.
  • Rural:
    Those living in rural settlements or townships, also includes areas with a population between 300 and 999.