News

In a meeting on Monday 22 September, it was announced that 20 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions at the University of Otago’s College of Education would be cut. The Otago Daily Times reported the following Wednesday that academic staff hours in the college would be reduced from 49.6 to 38 FTEs. General staff would also be reduced from 18.34 FTEs to 10.13. The University told Critic that they would not comment until the final decision is made, which is expected by October 18 2014.

The job losses come after the University’s decision to cut the college’s one-year graduate diploma and four-year bachelor’s degree in Education Studies. Earlier this year, Humanities Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Brian Moloughney said that enrolments in the graduate diploma had declined from 188 in 2010 to 96 this year, and that few students took the four-year bachelor of education degree. The Graduate Diploma in Teaching allows students to complete a three-year undergraduate degree and then follow this with one year of full-time study in teaching to become a qualified teacher. This will no longer be offered in 2015.

OUSA Education Officer Laura Harris said, "It goes without saying that I am disappointed that the University had decided to stop offering the one-year graduate diploma and the four-year degree at the cost of 20 jobs.” She believes the reasons, however, are probably due to decreased support for Postgraduate students. “The cuts the current Government has made to student support has had a massive impact on the number of students deciding to take up postgraduate study. Postgraduate study must be accessible and affordable if we expect the University to offer the courses, and students to be able to study at a postgraduate level."

Mason Stretch, President of the Otago Secondary Principal’s Association, told the ODT they have “serious concerns with such a significant cut in staffing and are disappointed with the lack of consultation with principals about this change.'' He said, “Developing confident, skilled teaching professionals is a challenging and rewarding task that requires the right people and significant investment. A reduction in staffing in this area impacts on the readiness of our new teachers to cope successfully with the demands of our profession.” ''A further loss of experienced, passionate and skilled teaching staff must put pressure on those remaining to deliver quality teacher training programmes,” said Stretch.

The University of Otago merged with the College of Education in 2007. 15 job cuts followed in 2010.