Will robots be part of the solution to New Zealand’s teacher shortage?

March 13, 2018

Seven Sharp's Gill Higgins went to a Westport school were robots are already being used.

With robots predicted to replace some teachers in the UK within ten years, TVNZ1's Seven Sharp visited a Westport school already trialling robots in the classroom which could be the answer to New Zealand's teacher shortage.

Westport North School is using a small humanoid robot called the iRobi to help its students learn in a fun way.

It all began with a cute robotic seal that was used to perk up kids who were having a bad day or were in the sick bay.

Then, the iRobi was introduced with high-tech features such as speech recognition.

A spokesperson for Westport North School sees the robots more as support aids than replacing teachers wholesale.

Do the kids think the robotic revolution will see their human teachers replaced?

"For certain things yes, but overall no," one student said.

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