Key Findings

New Zealand teachers on average reported spending 46 hours a week working, which was similar to other English-speaking countries. There was no change in total weekly working hours since 2014. Hours spent teaching per week on average had increased by around one-and-a-half hours, to 20 hours per week.

Most teachers (86%) were “all in all” satisfied with their job, would choose to be a teacher if they could decide again (74%), and enjoyed working at their current school (91%). Almost all teachers were motivated to enter the profession because it allowed them to influence the development of children and young people (96%) and contribute to society (93%).

However, only a third (34%) felt that teachers were valued by society. When asked to rate potential investments in Year 7-10 education, 76 percent of teachers reported that reducing class sizes by recruiting more staff was of high importance.

Teachers reported that reducing class size was a priority whether or not they themselves were working with a larger class. When asked the extent to which resource issues hindered their ability to provide quality education, principals were concerned, at least to some extent, with the shortage or inadequacy of time for instructional leadership (73%), shortage of teachers with competence in teaching students with special needs (70%) and shortage of qualified teachers (67%).