In late February, the Ministry of Education said significant teacher shortages were likely this year, after an error had caused it to underestimate demand.
In their annual "Teacher Demand and Supply Planning Projection", published on February 21, the ministry said that schools around New Zealand could be short 1250 teachers.
Schools in Central Otago that responded to inquiries said they were experiencing no shortages of teachers, but some had concerns for the upcoming year.
Clyde School principal Stephanie Kitto said the school was fully staffed, but had a very small pool of relievers due to many of the relievers being called in to cover the increased curriculum and management release time.
"Staffing is likely to be an issue when the winter bugs hit," she said.
After hard work at the end of 2024 on recruitment, Maniototo Area School had started the year fully staffed.
School principal Melissa Bell said after the efforts to recruit, she was nervous about losing staff during the year.
Finding replacement staff during the school year was something that she said could be challenging.
Cromwell College said they were fortunate to have enough teachers and staff for their 690 students.
Principal Mason Stretch said there was only one senior course that they were unable to find a teacher for, but had been able to run the course through distance learning.
