More teachers do matter

24 August 2006

More teachers do matter

There is a clear need for more operations funding, but Bill English’s comment that there are enough teachers is off the mark, New Zealand Secondary Principals’ Council (NZSPC) chair Arthur Graves said today.

“More teachers, more operations funding and more resources to tackle disruptive behaviour are all essential. To improve teaching and learning, you can’t have one without the others,” he said.

“The very strong message that the NZSPC principals and PPTA are sending to the Government is the need to implement the remaining recommendations of the Staffing Review Group, which would provide for additional management time and staffing to reduce class size.”

PPTA research on class size shows that secondary teachers believe that nearly 40 per cent of their classes are too large for the teaching style, subject or nature of the students.

“If we really want to maximise the benefit of the schooling strategy for students we need more teachers, more professional learning opportunities and more funding.”

*See also PPTA’s conference paper Controlling class size

ENDS

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