A survey of new primary and early childhood education (ECE) teachers has found 17 per cent expect to leave to profession within five years of graduating.
According to a new survey from New Zealand Educational Institute, 288 new educators felt that they were overworked by the high workload and disillusioned when it came to the low pay and "substandard mentoring support".
NZEI President Lynda Stuart said teachers needed time to teach, and to be paid as the professionals they are.
"This survey paints a worrying picture about the future of the workforce and the ability of schools to put a qualified teacher in front of every class."
"These new teachers should be full of hope and energy, but they’re already burning out, and seeing far less qualified friends leap ahead in their salaries."
"It's no wonder that it’s a struggle to get people into teaching and keep them there," she said.
The survery found of those planning to quit the profession, 43 per cent said the workload was too high, 15 per cent said the pay was too low, 15 per cent said their mentoring support was less than ideal and another 23 per cent said they were leaving because of a combination of all three.
One teacher surveyed said, "I love it, but it does take over your life. The work you do doesn't match the salary."
Another said, "I love the kids but the amount of paper work and long hours are ridiculous and the salary doesn't allow much money for myself."
Another teacher said, "I love my job! I love teaching it is very rewarding but you don't do this job for the money. When I start having children I can't imagine working full time as I would struggle to manage my time as I often work approx 50 hours a week."
Ms Stuart said primary teachers and principals would be renegotiating their collective agreements this year, and significant improvements to pay and workload issues were essential to turn around the fast-growing teacher shortage.
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