
Growing And Strengthening The Education Workforce
The Government is ensuring more Kiwi kids benefit from quality teaching and leadership in the classroom by growing the number of teachers and backing school leaders through Budget 2025.
'We know the most important part of a child's education is the quality of the teacher in front of them. Developing the workforce of the future is one of my priorities for the education system.
'We want to grow, promote and support the education workforce by backing and strengthening our educators who every day deliver real change in the classroom,' Education Minister Erica Stanford says.
To do this we are creating over 1,600 Full Time Equivalent teaching and learning support roles by 2028.
Key Budget 2025 investments include:
$33 million to expand the School Onsite Training Programme (SOTP) by 530 places over four years and powering up marketing to reach more potential teachers in New Zealand and overseas.
$30 million to support up to 800 teachers over four years to access an Aspiring Principal Programme and doubling the Leadership Advisory Service from 16 to 32 Leadership Advisors.
$53 million to fund approximately 115,000 teacher registrations and practicing certificates over three years.
$3 million to deliver targeted professional learning and development to teacher aides.
$5 million into Professional Learning and Development for Literacy, Maths and Assessment, for 450-500 teachers working across Years 0-10.
$14.7 million into professional learning and development for up to 51,000 teachers and kaiako to develop their skills and proficiency in te reo Māori and tikanga to levels where they can confidently use it in the classroom.
'This Government is implementing an ambitious education reform programme that is defined by pace, clarity and outcomes. It is crucial we support the teaching workforce who is leading this reform.
'This builds on our continued commitment to support our fantastic teachers. We want to grow the skills and knowledge in our workforce. This not only benefits our educators, but gives our tamariki the very best chance to thrive at school and beyond,' Ms Stanford says.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


NZ Herald
25 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Student loan debt hits $16 billion, most overseas borrowers aren't paying it back on time
There are Kiwi expats who took out loans as young students, often only 18 years old, and who did not understand the responsibilities and obligations, one tax barrister believes. As the debt mounts with interest, some will bury their heads in the sand. Others had settled in new home countries and forgotten they even had the debt, he says. Dave Ananth, special counsel at law firm Stace Hammond, says he has had clients so distressed by out-of-control debt, they became suicidal or had their marriages break apart – 'I've heard it many times.' Breakdown of who owes what and who's falling behind At the end of March, there were 626,728 borrowers with a student loan. More than 18% of those borrowers have overdue payments, amounting to 116,286 people. And most of those with overdue payments are overseas. More than $4b has been lent to Kiwis now overseas, and nearly $12b has been lent to New Zealanders still in the country, making the total balance just over $16b. Just over 18% of student loan debtors are abroad, with 114,347 overseas-based borrowers listed in the latest dataset from the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). Of those, 85,911 were overdue on repayments. This means more than 75% of overseas-based borrowers have overdue payments. And those tens of thousands of overseas debtors collectively owe repayments worth $2.3b, meaning they hold 92% of the overdue student loan balance. A breakdown of overdue loan repayments splits the debt between penalties and interest, and the principal loan. And more than half of overseas-based borrowers' debt is just interest and penalties: $1b worth of interest and penalties, and $1.3b of assessed principal. New Zealand-based debtors, meanwhile, are overdue on $18 million, 7% of the total $2.5b worth of overdue payments. And of the 512,381 borrowers in the country, 30,375, or 26%, had overdue payments. About 39% of domestic-based borrowers' debt is made up of penalties and interest. How do loan repayments work while overseas? Anyone outside New Zealand for more than six months is categorised as overseas-based. Interest will be charged on the loan from the day the borrower leaves the country. And loan repayments from overseas-based borrowers are based on the loan balance at the time the borrower left the country. In the year to April 2026, the annual interest rate was 4.9%. A late payment interest rate, applied to the outstanding payment for every day it goes unpaid, is set at 8.9%. Rates are set every April. Minimum annual repayments are set progressively, so borrowers with a balance of between $1000 and $15,000 must repay $1000; a balance of up to $30,000 will see $2000 required in repayments; up to $45,000 will require $3000; up to $60,000 requires $4000, and any loan over $60,000 will need $5000 worth of repayments. There are several reasons the IRD would consider keeping a loan interest-free while the borrower is overseas. Borrowers can apply through their MyIR account online and will need to provide evidence of their situation. The IRD did not respond to a request for comment, instead pointing the Herald to information available on its website. 'I'm scared of opening IRD letters': Kiwi expat A 29-year-old Kiwi expat in Berlin, Germany told the Herald the weight of his loan repayments was difficult to handle while he was doing odd jobs on his overseas experience (OE). 'I'm scared of opening the online letters from IRD to see how much I owe on my student loan while overseas,' the man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said. 'It's stressful enough having to learn a new language and find a job in a foreign country, let alone leaving your home and familiarity. 'Obviously, student loans should be paid back – and mine will be repaid as my income returns to normal.' A 49-year-old woman was arrested last Monday while trying to leave the country at Christchurch International Airport. Te Amo Matangi, who has called Australia home for the last 21 years, had a balance of $13,000 balloon to $58,000 in interest and penalties. As she tried leaving the country, a ticket scan triggered an alert and a police officer seized her passport, informed her she had a warrant out for her arrest then took her into custody. 'I don't think that I needed to be put in jail, and that's what the police officers were reiterating as well,' Matangi said. 'I just feel like [the IRD] is really trying to make a statement.' She urged other Kiwis living overseas to take the time with the IRD in order to not make the same mistake. IRD says crackdown is changing borrowers' attitudes The coalition Government poured $29m a year into the IRD for compliance and collection work in Budget 2024. In this year's Budget, the Government allocated a further $35m for compliance and collection. The IRD says this funding has driven its jump in collecting repayments from overseas-based borrowers. In the nine months from July last year, the IRD collected $207m from overseas debtors. That figure was 43% higher than the amount collected in the same period the previous year. 'As a result of the work we've been doing, we're also starting to see a more positive attitude by new borrowers, most of whom are meeting their payment obligations,' the IRD said. The IRD's customer segment lead, Jane Elley, said in May: 'We've contacted more than 12,000 borrowers, 1320 have entered repayment plans, and 960 people have fully repaid their overdue amounts. 'Three hundred and four overseas-based borrowers own property here, and during the first six months of our increased compliance work, they paid up $1.7m. 'For defaulters within this group who have refused to engage and resolve their default, further legal enforcement action will be taken, which may include NZ-based bankruptcy or charging orders over their properties,' Elley said. 'There were also 151 overseas-based borrowers with NZ-based investments, and between July and December last year, we received payments totalling $84,000 from some of them. Again, there could be legal action ahead, including taking deductions from their investments or bank accounts receiving interest income.' The IRD can apply to the courts for a warrant to arrest overseas debtors who 'knowingly default' on their repayments, Elley said. She said Customs and airlines helped the IRD keep track of debtors by handing over information and alerting it to travel information or border crossings. 'We apply to the District Court and the police make the actual arrest. Once arrested and taken before the courts, a judge can order the defaulter to make reasonable efforts to arrange repayment to Inland Revenue,' Elley said. Nation of Debt series Monday: NZ nears trillion-dollar debt burden Tuesday: Are higher taxes inevitable? Wednesday: Consumer debt dips but 470,000 Kiwis behind on payments Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter covering business, breaking news and local stories from Tāmaki Makaurau. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022. Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.


NZ Herald
25 minutes ago
- NZ Herald
Letters: Council's ‘Robin Hood' rating system verges on socialism
This pattern of rates collection can only be explained by a 'Robin Hood' council that is robbing the well-off to give to the poor, which I label as socialism. Is this the job of a council? No council should adopt this mandate. Its function is to provide quality services to the public at acceptable prices, and not do this via a wealth tax, because that is what our rating system has become. Trevor Smith, Takapuna. The languages of real life I was lucky to have something of a natural talent for assimilating language. When I started school in 1950, Māori was forbidden to be spoken and the small number of Māori kids were forbidden to use their native tongue. When I got to secondary school at the age of 11, I was put into 3L1, and was taught Latin, French, and English, but not a word of the only other language that was spoken by numerous New Zealanders. Now these accursed philistines in charge are winding the clock back again. This is an international humiliation and disgrace, and a terrible blot on our collective copybook. The more language you learn while you are young, the better prepared you are for real life. Real life almost universally includes more than one language. Bruce Rogan, Mangawhai. Not my kind of rugby The letter by Gary Carter (Aug 19) enthuses 'this rugby championship is a must-watch for spectacular, world-leading excitement'. I am not sure if the writer has his head in the clouds or the sand but the current version of rugby is almost unwatchable. Crash-bang dangerous tackles, late TMO rulings, whistle-happy refs, rolling mauls all add up to a stop-start game going backwards. With 10 minutes of running rugby in an 80-minute game, wouldn't there be more 'excitement' watching Donald Trump and our Prime Minister playing noughts and crosses? Graham Fleetwood, Tauranga. Retain the moral high ground The idea that New Zealand should consider losing its moral high ground and its nuclear-free status as contemplated by Matthew Hooton (Aug 15) gets a big Yeah, Nah. How could he suggest such a thing after all the work put in by activists of the past? We should reaffirm our non-aligned status and spend our defence on firefighting drones capable of defending us against any threat. If we can build America's Cup yachts, surely we can do that here, and probably better than elsewhere. We could also take a leadership role in reforming the UN Security Council so we (the whole world) can feel safe with genuine collective security, and put our energy into the real threat to the world - anthropogenic climate change. Dennis Worley, Birkenhead. Performative, not informative Jeremy Coleman (Aug 19) is right. Demands for Dame Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson, Aysha Verrall and Chris Hipkins to present in person at the Covid inquiry are pointless. During lockdown, as we silently watched the countless dead being loaded on to refrigerated trucks around the world, as we listened to clear messages from our leaders about what was happening, and as we learned that subsidies were helping people to put food on the table, I for one felt grateful to these people and proud to be a New Zealander. It needs to be understood that these former leaders have already responded to hours of questioning on the Covid response for the commission. Appearances by them would be merely performative, not informative, as others have said. This inquiry runs the risk of becoming less about how to do things better next time, and more of a political witch hunt. The money would have been better spent on social housing and equal pay. Christine Hart, St Mary's Bay. Keeping up with AI Writing is going to be the future for school kids. Really? Having just used AI to transcribe handwriting to text and found it recorded my statement about it being 'absolutely amazing', it is no surprise that Education Minister Erica Stanford needs a distraction. Perhaps our kids could learn a few Māori words like tūī and kererū. Our manu/bird names are part of our vernacular. Steve Russell, Hillcrest.

1News
11 hours ago
- 1News
Te Wānanga o Aotearoa announces job cuts in proposed 'redesign'
The largest Māori tertiary provider in the country has announced a proposed "organisational redesign" that will cut around 60 roles. The measures were announced today by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa in a new strategy, Te Pae Tawhiti 2030, saying it aimed to map out the institution's future direction to deliver "innovative, values-led education for learners of today" and "generations to come". "A proposed organisational redesign better aligns our people, structures, and systems with our vision, and responds to the changing needs of our tauira, employers and communities," the wānanga said in a statement. "Guided by kaupapa Māori values (Te Kaupapa Matua), Te Pae Tawhiti 2030 will expand the reach and relevance of mātauranga Māori and deliver high-quality education that is inclusive, innovative, and transformational." The changes would create new roles, disestablish some existing roles, and realign responsibilities, according to the statement. A reduction of around 60 roles was expected – about 4% of the tertiary institutions' workforce. ADVERTISEMENT The wānanga employed nearly 1500 staff across the country at sites in more than 80 locations between Kaitaia and Invercargill. The wānanga said its priority was to retain as many existing kaimahi as possible by supporting them into new roles. A key focus of the change would be in leadership, the statement continued, where there would be a "deliberate" flattening of the structure and realignment of roles to "lift visibility, reduce complexity, and strengthen strategic oversight". "Our kaiako are central to who we are, and all that we do, and this change is about ensuring they are supported to do their important mahi in the best possible way. There will be no reduction in kaiako roles." The wānanga aimed to shift its focus to delivery, leadership, partnership, and innovation. Consultation would take place with kaimahi over the next few months. In April, the institution marked 40 years since the official opening of O-Tāwhao Marae, in Te Awamutu, the birthplace of the wānanga. ADVERTISEMENT For more on this kaupapa, watch Te Karere at 4pm today on TVNZ1 or livestream on TVNZ+.