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New Zealand teachers work longer hours and are more likely to be stressed by their job than the OECD average.
The Teaching and Learning International Survey also found half of New Zealand respondents were satisfied with their pay when the survey ran in mid-2024.
Meanwhile, a New Zealand Council for Educational Research survey of primary school teachers, principals and students found teachers wanted more help from support staff and early career teachers wanted higher pay.
The NZCER report said nearly three-quarters of teachers with five or fewer years' experience indicated a pay rise was something they most wanted to see, compared to 45-49 percent of teachers with more experience.
It said 76 percent of teachers wanted more support staff, compared to 64 percent in 2019 and 59 percent in 2016.
"This was followed by reduced class sizes (70 percent), more time to work with individual students (64 percent), reduced administration or paperwork (55 percent), and better pay (52 percent)," the report said.
The survey involved responses from 639 teachers at 148 schools late last year.
It found that half agreed the government's curriculum changes were going in the right direction and 37 percent were neutral.
Half were confident about teaching the new English and Maths curriculums.
Nearly all respondents agreed that learning New Zealand's history was important and three-quarters enjoyed teaching the curriculum.
Almost all said they enjoyed their work but 82 percent said student behaviour had seriously disrupted their teaching at some point in the preceding year, up from 68 percent in 2019.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Teaching and Learning International Survey involved 2733 teachers across Years 1-10 and 227 principals.
It said full-time New Zealand teachers reported working 47.5 hours a week, higher than the OECD average of 41, with 21.5 hours spent teaching.
The report said 33 percent of New Zealand teachers experienced stress "a lot" in their work, higher than the OECD average of 19 percent and teachers under the age of 30 were more likely to report stress than those aged 50 and above.
It said New Zealand teachers were more likely to be working with children who needed learning support.
"The share of teachers who teach in schools where more than 10 percent of students have special education needs is 77 percent (higher than the OECD average: 46 percent). The share of teachers in these schools increased by 58 percentage points between 2018 and 2024," the report said.
The report said 69 percent of New Zealand teachers reported using artificial intelligence (AI) in their work, compared to the OECD average of 36 percent.
It found New Zealand teachers were more likely to think parents valued them (73 percent compared to OECD average of 65 percent) but only 34 percent agreed teachers were valued by society (OECD average 16 percent).
The survey found 51 percent of New Zealand teachers were satisfied with their salaries, a 16 percentage point increase since 2018 and higher than the OECD average of 39 percent.
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