29/09/2023 
Erika Whittome 
[FYI request #24022 email] 
Tēnā koe Erika, 
OIA: 1317267 – Hiring back of unvaccinated teachers 
Thank you for your email of 3 September 2023 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) 
requesting the following information:  
I refer you to https://fyi.org.nz/request/19702-total-no-teachers-terminated-due-to-mandates 
which says that 447 teachers left their teaching positions with an exit reason coded by the 
school as ‘covid’. 
 
As we all know, many teachers' employments were terminated under the vaccination orders 
and these orders were repealed Sept 2022. 
 
1. How many of these 447 teachers have you hired back to teaching positions? 
 
2. Please would you share the number of open teaching vacancies as of 16Nov 2021 and 
as of today. 
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).  
Regarding part one of your request, as outlined in the Ministry’s previous response linked in your 
request, the Ministry introduced a payroll category in November 2021 to record the number of 
teachers who left their positions for COVID-19-related reasons. Under this payroll category, a 
teacher may be recorded as leaving a position for several COVID-19-related reasons, such as 
health or family obligations. 
It is important to note that the category does not isolate whether teachers voluntarily left the 
workforce or left due to the vaccine mandate. Therefore, reliable conclusions cannot be drawn 
regarding the volume of teachers who may have left their position due to the vaccine mandate.  
We can, however, confirm that, between November 2021 and 12 September 2023 (when the data 
was extracted), 457 teachers left their teaching positions with an exit reason coded by the school 
as ‘COVID’. As of 12 September 2023, 216 of these teachers had been rehired. 
Regarding part two of your request, teachers and early learning educators are directly employed 
by schools and early learning services. There is no central staffing agency or government 
Wellington National Office, 1 The Terrace, Levels 5 to 14, Wellington 6011 
PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140, DX SR51201 Phone: +64 4 463 8000  

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department responsible for staff placement. As all job applications are made directly to the 
employing school or early childhood service, information regarding open vacancies is therefore 
held by schools and early childhood services. 
I am therefore refusing this aspect of your request under section 18(g) of the Act, as the Ministry 
does not hold this information, and we have no grounds for believing that the aggregate 
information requested is either held by, or more closely connected to the functions of, another 
department or organisation subject to the Act.  
Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your name and 
contact details will be removed. 
Thank you again for your email. You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision 
on your request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to 
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143. 
Nāku noa, nā 
 
 
 
 
Anna Welanyk 
Hautū | Deputy Secretary 
Te Pou Ohumahi Mātauranga | Education Workforce 
OIA: 1317267 

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