Archived Director's Messages

Click here to choose another archived message.

Director's Message

August 2005

The New Zealand Teachers Council has been established to provide professional leadership, enhance the professional status of teachers in schools and early childhood centres, and contribute to a safe and high quality teaching and learning environment for all learners. Over the past 12 months, the Council has continued to grow its capacity and capability to achieve these tasks. To this end, there are a number of key initiatives and messages conveyed in the August communication to schools and early childhood settings.

In this message:

• Teachers Council election
  
• Registration issues
  
• Early childhood education
  
• Teacher education
  
• Non-teacher police vetting
  
• Policy development & professional leadership
  
• Introducing the managers - continued

Teachers Council Election:

VOTING PAPERS AND PROFILE BOOKLETS WILL BE POSTED TO TEACHERS BEGINNING ON 1 SEPTEMBER 2005

Voting will be open from 1 September 2005 and will close at midday on 1 October 2005.

The Council website contains profiles of all the candidates at www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/communication/election/index.stm

There are 13 candidates:

Should you or your staff have an enquiry concerning voting papers please contact the Returning Officer:

Warwick Lampp
electionz.com Ltd
Level 1
506 Wairakei Rd
Christchurch

Tel: 0508 666 336
Fax:0508 666 337
Email:wlampp@electionz.com

The Council would like to thank all those who have already updated their details either on-line at www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/mailformaddress.stm or via letter or by a phone call to our call centre (04) 471 0852.

Please let us know if your name, residential /postal address or status has changed. If contact details are not up-to-date on the Council records, the Returning Officer may be unable to send you the required voting papers.

The Change of Details Form on the Council's website at www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/mailformaddress.stm is available for you to add or change details in time to be sent a voting paper. This is important information to the Council and will allow the Returning Officer to send you the appropriate sector voting paper in September.

Remember, to be eligible to vote in the upcoming election, teachers must be registered and hold a current practising certificate

We look forward to hearing from you.

Registration:

Full Registration and Advice & Guidance
In partnership with early childhood settings and schools, the Teachers Council has an important role in assuring that teachers moving to fully registered status have met the standard the profession expects of them. As part of our quality assurance systems, we randomly select applications when recommendations for full registration are received, to ensure that an advice and guidance programme has been provided to the expected standards.

The need for applicants and early childhood settings/schools to keep written documentation of advice and guidance to provisionally registered teachers has been a requirement since the Teacher Registration Board was established in 1990. Information about the Council's requirements has been readily available in publications from the Teacher Registration Board and now the Teachers Council, on our website, from school support services and also from training providers.

For information on what the Teachers Council consider good aspects of an advice and guidance programme please visit our website: www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz. Refer also, of course, to our publication 'Towards Full Registration (Learning Media, 2004).
Here are some reminders of what the professional leader needs to ensure before a recommendation for full registration is submitted to the NZ Teachers Council for consideration:

For provisionally registered teachers:

• The applicant has met the service requirements to move to full registration - a total of at least two years recent teaching service in minimum blocks of 10 weeks for at least 12.5 hrs per week. *The term 'recent' is defined by the New Zealand Teachers Council as 'teaching service in an approved setting within the last five years'
  
• The applicant has been supervised by a fully registered teacher for the whole period of their support programme.
  
• The applicant has completed an advice and guidance programme and has the documentation to support this as they may be randomly selected to provide it.
  
• The applicant has a current practising certificate.

For teachers registered subject to confirmation

• The applicant has met the service requirements to move to full registration - a total of at least three months continuous teaching.
  
• The applicant has been supervised by a fully registered teacher for the whole period of their support programme and completed a relevant advice and guidance programme with that teacher.
  
• The applicant has a current practising certificate.

There is a non-refundable fee of $80.00 associated with the applications to move to full registration. Please ensure that all the requirements to move to full registration are met. If the application is declined, the fee will not be refunded, held or transferred.

Forms and the application process
NZEI officials tell us that registration processes are proceeding smoothly for their members. We are very pleased to receive this feedback. An important element in this is ensuring that the most up-to-date forms are used when applying for registration, practising certificate renewal and non-teacher police vets. NZ Police will no longer accept forms that do not include correct references to the Clean Slate legislation. The Council offers up-to-date forms on its website at www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz and urges schools and centres to destroy any old forms held and download the latest from the website. In doing so you will not delay your application being processed because they are sent back by NZ Police.

The Council also reminds you to check that application forms are complete and correct; the appropriate documentation is certified and sent (if specified), forms are signed appropriately and full payment is enclosed.

This will ensure that applications from your school or centre are not sent back for additional detail or payment.

Early Childhood Education

Mandatory reporting and unregistered teachers
The Council has recently had enquiries from early childhood settings where there has been reason to dismiss an early childhood teacher who is not a registered teacher. Sometimes the call is prompted by the employer's awareness of mandatory reporting requirements for registered teachers. Often the employer is motivated by concern about the conduct or competence of the teacher in future teaching situations.

One of the benefits of teacher registration for both individual teachers and employing bodies, is that there are clearly outlined processes and procedures for dealing with conduct and competence matters, including making reports and complaints to the Council. These latter are laid out in the New Zealand Teachers Council (Making Reports and Complaints) Rules 2004, which can be accessed through our website. For registered teachers, these procedures provide reassurance that any complaints will be dealt with fairly and fully. The Rules also provide employers of registered teachers with clear guidelines to follow should they have concerns about a registered teacher's competence or conduct.

Unregistered teachers fall outside of the Council's authority. If looking to employ an unregistered early childhood teacher, the best advice we can give to employers is to be thorough in checking references from past employers, and to question any gaps in employment history. Similarly, be fair but honest when asked to provide a reference for a teacher. Our children deserve no less. Ahakoa he iti, he pounamu.

Teacher Education

Graduating Standards
A draft set of standards applying to teachers graduating from initial teacher education programmes will be ready for stakeholder consultation by the end of the year. In April, the Teachers Council convened a working party representing teacher organisations, initial teacher education providers, the Ministry of Education, NZQA and the Council itself, which has been working on this development. The aim for this work is to develop a set of standards that describe what a teacher will know, understand and be able to do at the point of graduation. This set of standards will apply to teachers across all sectors of teaching. Many countries in the OECD have standards either for the purpose of accrediting programmes and / or for assuring the quality of outcomes.

At the same time, a major research project into the provision of initial teacher education, sponsored by the Teachers Council and the Ministry of Education, is approaching final reporting. Dr Ruth Kane, from Massey University, is directing an ambitious collation and analysis of all the initial teacher education programmes available in New Zealand. This work follows on from a preliminary report by Marie Cameron of documentation held about the programmes and from a significant literature review of New Zealand research on Initial Teacher Education in New Zealand: 1993-2004 by Marie Cameron and Robyn Baker. A further stage in the project is gathering perceptions of some employers about what they understand as quality initial teacher education practice.

These two initiatives, in addition to current accreditation policy and procedures, provide a solid foundation for the Teachers Council to use its influence in strengthening the quality of initial teacher education in New Zealand.

Non Teacher Police Vetting

Under the Education Standards Act: all schools and centres with non teachers and contractors in their employment (working regularly on school/centre grounds in school hours) are required to ensure these staff have current police vets. A police vet is current for three years unless the non teacher or contractor moves to a different school/centre or is employed at multiple schools/centres and then a police vet is required for each school/centre the non teacher or contractor is employed at. Police vets are not transferable. Up-to-date forms are available at
http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/ntpv/form.stm
There seems to have been some confusion recently in one region that believed non teacher police vets could be sought directly from NZ Police. This is not the case. The exceptions to vetting through the Council are vetting requests for homestays, board of trustee members, and volunteers, (such as parent help on school camps or coaches for sports teams). These categories can be vetted as a direct request to the Licensing & Vetting Service Centre. Schools must be registered with the Licensing & Vetting Service Centre to obtain this service. All other applications must be made through the Council's Non Teacher Police Vetting Unit.

Policy developments and professional leadership

Policy work has been greatly strengthened this year by the permanent appointment of a manager of policy and strategic development (see below) and of a highly skilled policy analyst, Sue Harding who began employment in May. Policies governing the Council's processes in various areas of registration, maintenance of professional standards and professional development have come under review and been systematically mapped. In-depth discussion documents have been developed to underpin a draft 'Good Character and Fit to Teach' policy that takes on board the Clean Slate legislation and clarifies the criteria and processes used by Council for competence and conduct issues.

This year has also seen an intense focus on issues of teacher and teaching quality. Staff and Council members have engaged with educationalists and officials from a wide spectrum of expertise in early childhood, schools sector, research and tertiary providers to monitor and consider the evidence from practice and research in order to formulate policy direction for professional leadership. Three major research initiatives have been commissioned by the Teachers Council - two in partnership with the Ministry of Education and one by ourselves - which will provide rich information for the education community and the Council. In addition to the research project for initial teacher education described above, a project examining issues and perceptions around the status of teachers will add local understanding to insights from recent international research in this area. Policies affecting recruitment, induction, retention and career development will be influenced by this research. The other significant research we have commissioned is a critical review of the international literature about professional / teaching standards.

Our communications capacity has been strengthened with the appointment of Julie Weir to the policy and teacher education teams earlier this month. You should receive a full colour newsletter before the end of September. Teachers renewing their practising certificates are also receiving an individual copy of the Council's Code of Ethics for Registered Teachers. This year we have focussed on dissemination of the Code and we plan workshops for 2006 to help centres and schools further develop their understanding of its application in their settings.

The Managers

It is my pleasure, in this message, to introduce the manager who has responsibility for policy, strategic development and the professional leadership role of the Council.

Cynthia Shaw

Cynthia has been working in education in a variety of roles since beginning as a secondary teacher in 1970. She has taken up a number of leadership roles in areas such as national curriculum development, national assessment, the secondary teachers' union, professional development, governance bodies and senior school management. This wide practical experience has been strengthened through academic study (an M.Ed.Admin. (hons) - from Massey University) and through a year long secondment in Leadership and Management at the Wellington College of Education Support Services.

Since joining the management team at the Council in February 2005, Cynthia has thoroughly enjoyed the involvement in the wide-ranging professional leadership and communication roles of the Council. It has been a challenge keeping all the balls in air with so much going on in terms of teacher and teaching quality but having the opportunity to focus on such a broad range of issues, across all sectors from early childhood to tertiary teacher education, and within a team of committed colleagues, has been stimulating.

We now have a strong team of staff supporting a committed and hardworking Council. Work in all areas of Corporate Services, Registration, Teacher Education and Policy and Strategic Development will continue to go from strength to strength in supporting the teaching profession.

Dr Peter Lind
Director

• This document can be downloaded in PDF format by clicking here

Click on a date below to view archived messages from the director.

---

About Us || Registration || Conduct & Competence || Teacher Education || Non Teacher Police Vetting || Policy
Communication || Home || Accessibility