Principals are concerned about whether overseas teachers will be culturally responsive to Māori and Pasifika students.

Principals are concerned overseas teachers being brought in to plug shortages won't know enough about the Māori and Pasifika cultures of many students.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Education said around 550 overseas teachers were "screened and ready for principals to hire", to help cover a shortfall of 850 teachers needed for the country's primary and secondary schools in 2019.

So far about 100 job offers had been made to teachers coming from overseas, including from the UK, South Africa, US and Canada.

Richard Dykes from the Auckland Secondary Schools Principals' Association raised concerns about the responsiveness of the overseas teachers to Māori and Pasifika students.

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The proportion of Māori and Pasifika students was growing, particularly in Auckland. "We want teachers who are going to be culturally responsive to that," Dykes told Radio New Zealand on Thursday.

"I know there's talk of providing these teachers with a two-week culture responsiveness course, but hey look, that's not going to cut it. We want our own teaching our own."

It was good the minister and officials had recognised there was a crisis and done something tangible about it, he said.

He was confident there would be people in front of the students in 2019, but it was a "Band-Aid", not a long term solution.

He would like to know what the ministry meant when it said the overseas teachers were already screened.

"They are qualified, and that's great, but what we're saying is 'are they quality', and we want the best and the brightest."

New Zealand Māori Council Auckland district chair Matthew Tukaki also raised concerns about the cultural awareness of the overseas teachers.

"How is it these people are culturally competent to be in our schools and teaching our children with no context of who we are as a nation, the languages we speak, our culture and, what it is to be Maori? Other than a two week course," Tukaki said.

He also questioned how the overseas teachers were screened. "What testing has been done about the backgrounds of these teachers? Their former work histories? Anyone checked their social media accounts to see what they rant about?"