With less than two weeks to go before school starts back, a number of Auckland schools are again finding it difficult to fill their teaching roster.

Long Bay College Principal Russell Brooke said it's a nightmare to find teachers with the right skill-set, and it's an issue across all subjects.

He said they're recruiting as far as England, which not all schools can afford to do.

"A person who's up to speed with the modern adolescent, someone who's technologically savvy in terms of using the laptops and all the online platforms, someone who's passionate about their subject, and someone who can teach to scholarship level. To get that is just about impossible."

Mr Brooke said he knows of schools who don't say if they aren't happy with a teacher's skill-set because of fears it will ruin their reputation.

"School's are placed in a competitive position by the politics of this government, everything is about competitors, so everyone's competing for teachers, competing for students, and therefore difficult for many people to speak out."

Brooke said he's aware of some principals who are so desperate for a teacher that they're taking lower-skilled teachers.

He said it's because highly skilled individuals are going for higher paid jobs outside of education.

Mr Brooke believes there's a fault in New Zealand's plan to go big on educating youth in the tech industries when tech graduates get paid 200 thousand dollars elsewhere.

He said no graduate out of university will instead choose a teachers job worth 40 to 50 thousand dollars.

Secondary Principals’ Association President Sandy Pasley said most schools are struggling to find skilled teachers and a big factor is the cost of living in Auckland.

The Herald reported at the beginning of December that hundreds of positions were still sitting vacant.

More than 600 teaching jobs were waiting to be filled across the country. Schools were struggling to arrange timetables and classes for the 2017 year.

Nearly 200 of those vacancies were in crucial science and maths jobs - areas which have become increasingly difficult to fill as science, engineering and maths university graduates get picked up by high-paying corporate and private sector companies.