Rotorua Principals' Association president Grant Henderson believed the scheme had pros and cons.
"Like everything in the job market, everybody would prefer you to have experience but if nobody gives you the opportunity, how do you get experience? And if you have a bit of a student debt and you are worried about getting that paid off, the sooner you get the opportunity to teach the better so the scheme can work really well for some people," he said.
"It can also work for principals, who might have otherwise been able to pay to have [a graduate] for one year, but not two, which is what they need for registration, or a third year, which is what I'd call the 'pay off' year when they actually know stuff; they've learnt from their mistakes and they're beginning to evolve as a teacher."
However, Mr Henderson was aware some graduates were put off committing for three or more years. Mr Henderson is also principal of Ngakuru School, which doesn't qualify for the scheme.
"About two years ago, we had two first year teachers who made positive contributions to the school. We didn't bond them in any way and to this day, I don't think we would.
"One of the graduates was lucky enough to get a position in Hamilton, where her partner was, so she went there with our blessing.
"Also, if graduates have gone straight from school to university to work, it's likely they'll want to do an [overseas experience]. Many choose to go after their second year because then they're fully registered and able to get work overseas."
Mr Henderson said he'd be interested to know how effective a non-voluntary scheme would be.
"When Finland was going through economic meltdown, they invested heavily in education, instead of business.
"Their education system now, which is seen in very high regard, only lets the top 10 per cent of graduates into teaching. They have a bonding scheme because they don't want the very best people going off into another profession.
"I'd be interesting in seeing how it would work out here if we let less people through training and bonded them for x amount of time so we only got the very very best out."
Nationwide, 620 teachers have completed at least three years in the Voluntary Bonding Scheme since it began in 2009.
Ministry of Education acting deputy secretary of student achievement Lesley Hoskin said the uptake of the scheme was much lower than anticipated as supply and demand had changed significantly.
"There has been very little movement within the workforce, vacancy levels dropped to a 10 year low in 2010, and continue to remain relatively low," she said.
Labour's education spokesman Chris Hipkins supported the scheme but said it should be more closely monitored.
"There's absolutely no doubt we want to encourage people into the teaching profession but it should be updated annually with basic information of who's signing up for it and if they're still in it," he said. "What's working and what's not should be constantly being considered so the programme can be refined."
Mr Hipkins believed teacher training should more closely meet the needs of the workforce.
"If we want to get more people into the teaching profession and increase the level of support there should be further restrictions on entry criteria and workforce planning. That means you wouldn't be training an abundance of teachers in one area and a scarcity in another."
