Bay of Plenty schools alter teaching methods as staff shortages and Covid cases rise

Rotorua Boys' High School maths teacher Rachel Harvey has been teaching her classes online this past week. Photo / Andrew Warner

With Covid-19 cases in schools rising, teachers in the Bay of Plenty fear the sector is on the verge of a teacher shortage.

Schools across the region have adapted teaching methods as students and staff get sick, some still teaching on-site while others from home - or a combination of both.

The Ministry of Education supported schools with active cases and provided a snapshot of cases in the Bay of Plenty: as of Thursday morning, of the 717 schools in the country dealing with Covid-19, 32 schools were in the Bay of Plenty and Waiariki.

Of the 47 active cases it was supporting schools with, 35 were students or pupils, 10 were teachers and two were listed as "other".

Teachers across the country were advocating to be considered critical workers and for rapid antigen tests (RATs) to be widely available to them.

From yesterday, RATs would be the primary form of testing and only positive cases and their household needed to self-isolate throughout phase three.

Schools were told earlier in the week RATs should only be used as a last resort where all teachers and staff are required to isolate and there isn't a suitable person who can supervise children on-site.

Te Mahau offices will receive an initial supply of 200,000 RATs for distribution under the close contact exemption scheme, to be bolstered by another 480,000 tests within a week.

New Zealand Education Institute Rotorua branch president Chelsea Old said issues included parents not testing their symptomatic children and a looming teacher shortage.

New Zealand Education Institute Rotorua branch president Chelsea Old. Photo / Supplied

The challenge was that there were few relievers available: "If you were to get sick, who is going to step in for you?"

Speaking hypothetically, she said if there was a teacher shortage, she expected to see classes merge - some teachers may need to look after three classes at one time.

"We look at North America, and they are having parents come in and watch classes."

She had teacher friends who had no relievers at their schools, forcing them to send classes home and turn to online learning.

Children at her school who showed symptoms were sent home, she said, with about half of the children away from each class.

With cases of symptomatic children remaining untested, she wished parents felt more comfortable getting them tested.

"It's not as scary as they think it is."

Pongakawa School principal Craig Haggo said pupils were back at school after two weeks of off-site learning.

Pongakawa School principal Craig Haggo. Photo / Supplied

Several pupils had tested positive earlier in the month, and he said it had changed its system to vertical teacher bubbles to minimise opportunities for virus spread.

"This is an attempt to keep our teachers on-site for as long as possible."

As Covid-19 cases became more widespread, more teachers would get sick, and Haggo said finding a relief teacher would be challenging.

While the school was previously informed by the Ministry of Health of connected Covid-19 cases, Haggo said phase 3 meant it relied on parents to inform them of any positive cases.

Rotorua Boys' High School students have been learning online this last week after a teacher tested positive.

Maths teacher Rachel Harvey said it had been working well, and if any of the boys became distracted, a call home did the trick.

Having taught this way in previous years throughout the pandemic, she said the school had made the plan and it was easy to adjust.

She hoped teachers sick with Omicron would only be mildly affected, which would mean they were able to continue to work in a virtual setting and not impact on staff numbers.

Shortages have already been felt at Tauranga Girls' College, and the school shifted to a hybrid online learning model this week.

School principal Tara Kanji said it made the switch to ease staffing pressure.

Students in Years 11 to 13 would learn from home using Google Classroom for the rest of the week, while junior students would continue to learn onsite.

She said a shortage of relievers was putting the school "under pressure".

Some relievers were becoming fatigued and others were being used by other schools.

A Ministry of Education spokesperson said all schools and kura remained open for learning at red under the Covid Protection Framework (CPF) and each school would have its own plan that best meets the needs of all students and staff, including alternative ways of offering learning, such as distance and blended learning.

"The health and safety mitigations schools/kura have in place (for example, masks, vaccination, hygiene and ventilation requirements) make school/kura a safer place than many other environments."

The latest advice to schools through the Ministry of Education School Leaders Bulletin on staffing issues was on February 10, and told teachers and schools there was a temporary change to the Additional Relief Teaching Funding policy.

It said it recognised the cost of replacing essential teaching and non-teaching staff, and lowered its threshold to four days.

The same bulletin provided resources such as draft 2022 downloadable learning packs and guidance for hybrid teaching and learning.

This week's bulletin, issued the day before the shift to phase three, told schools they needed to advise its regional Te Mahau contact about any positive cases connected with the school, but no longer needed to identify and keep records of close contacts in schools.