A nationwide teacher shortage is expected to worsen as unfilled positions are predicted to hit 1400 by next year.
According to a survey of secondary school principals, 570 jobs have been left vacant and 700 positions have been filled by unqualified staff.
"We are needing to appoint people to positions with qualifications that are outside their area of expertise or outside the level that they are used to teaching at as well," Darfield High School principal James Morris says.
The survey revealed of the 25,000 secondary school teachers in the country, 40 per cent on average quit just five years into the job.
Nelson College for Girls principal Cathy Ewing says the teaching profession needs to be made "more attractive" by increasing the salary and decreasing the workload.
However, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says the high number of job vacancies is not representative of a teacher shortage but schools advertising due to internal promotions and career progression.
"The first priority is you need some teachers. All the rest are nice ideas, but if there's no teachers, they're not really going to work," Mr Hipkins says.
The government says a teacher supply package will be ready for schools by Christmas.
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