Teachers Council Receives Establishment Funding

New Zealand Teachers Council Receives Establishment Funding

Today’s Budget has seen the provision of $400,000 in the current financial year, with further funding reducing over the next four years, to help establish the New Zealand Teachers Council.

“If ever there was a time to say clearly how much teachers are valued, it is now,” Teachers Council Chair Stan Rodger said. “The Teachers Council will demonstrate just that.

“The Teachers Council is a significant development for the teaching profession. For 50 years teachers have wanted a professional organisation of their own, that is for teachers, of teachers and by teachers. This became possible with the passing of the Education Standards Act 2001 late last year.”

The Teachers Council took over the more limited roles of the Teacher Registration Board (TRB) in February this year but it is not until after teachers elect their Council Members later this year that the Council will take up its full responsibilities.

“This Council will give teachers that chance to have their own professional voice similar to other professional bodies,” Mr Rodger said.

The Act states that the purpose of the Teachers Council is to provide professional leadership in teaching, enhance the professional status of teachers in schools and early childhood education, and contribute to a safe and high quality teaching and learning environment for children and other learners.

“The vision behind the Act is to enhance the recognition of the professional worth of teachers,” Stan Rodger said.

“The Council will be the voice for all teachers that promotes teaching as a profession and enhances the standing of teachers in our communities,”

While the Government has provided funding to help set up the Teachers Council, the Council, as with other professional bodies and the TRB before it, will be self-funding. The professional fee will be $120 for a three-year Practising Certificate. The former TRB’s registration fee was $60 for a three-year Practising Certificate and as a Government appointed body, the fee was fixed. It was insufficient to cover the costs of registration and perform the functions under the previous legislation. For the last three years the TRB ran deficit budgets funded from its dwindling cash reserves.

The Act has increased greatly the functions of the TRB from a registration authority to a professional body. The increased size of the Council with the increase in functions and scope necessitates a fee increase. Fees will now need to support a range of functions to do with professional leadership.

TRB functions were to Teachers Council functions are to

- Approve initial teacher education programmes

- Register teachers

- De-register teachers - Provide professional leadership to teachers and others involved in schools and early childhood education

- Encourage wise teaching practice

- Register teachers

- Determine standards for teacher registration and the issue of practising certificates

- Establish and maintain standards for qualifications that lead to teacher registration

- Approve teacher education programmes in conjunction with quality assurance agencies

- Develop a code of ethics for teachers

- Exercise disciplinary functions relating to teacher misconduct and reports of teacher convictions

- Identify research priorities and, where appropriate, to promote and sponsor research according to those priorities

The Teachers Council will also establish two advisory groups in early childhood education and Maori medium education, as well as a complaints assessment committee and a disciplinary tribunal. The professional fee will enable these functions to be carried out in the interests of all teachers.

“One of the key tasks of the Teachers Council will be to provide a forum where teachers’ voices will be listened to,” Mr Rodger said.

All people who have achieved approved teaching qualifications are eligible to be registered as teachers by the Teachers Council. To teach in a free kindergarten, primary or secondary school, it is necessary to be registered. There are currently 72,538 registered teachers.

“In preparation for the election of four teacher representatives by teachers, we are contacting all teachers to ensure that they are enrolled for the election, can nominate representatives and vote,” Mr Rodger said. “Teacher involvement is vital to the success of the Council.”

Four of the Council Members will be elected by teachers, one each will be nominated by the NZEI, PPTA and the School Trustees Association, and four, including the Chair, will be appointed by the Minister of Education.

“I believe that the Teachers Council has huge potential to make a difference to teachers and teaching and through them to the education of all our children,” Mr Rodger said. “To achieve this, it is vital to have teachers actively involved in determining policy and decision making on the Council. The first thing teachers can do is take part in the elections.”

ENDS

23 May 2002

A PROFESSIONAL COUNCIL FOR ALL TEACHERS - FACT SHEET

THE TEACHERS COUNCIL

- The purpose of the New Zealand Teachers Council is to provide professional leadership in teaching, enhance the professional status of teachers in schools and early childhood education, and contribute to a safe and high quality teaching and learning environment for children and other learners.

- For more than 50 years teachers have been proposing a professional organisation similar to that for other professionals. The intent is that the Teachers Council will become the authoritative voice of the teaching profession.

- On February 1 this year, the Education Standards Act 2001 brought the Teachers Council into being. The Council will take up its full responsibilities after teachers elect their Council Members later this year.

- The Teachers Council replaces the Teacher Registration Board (TRB) and has much wider functions.

- The TRB’s functions were to: approve initial teacher education programmes, register teachers and

de-register teachers.

- The Teachers Councils functions will include to: provide professional leadership to teachers and others involved in schools and early childhood education; encourage wise teaching practice; register teachers; determine standards for teacher registration and the issue of practising certificates; establish and maintain standards for the qualifications that lead to teacher registration; approve teacher education programmes in conjunction with quality assurance agencies; develop a code of ethics for teachers; exercise disciplinary functions relating to teacher misconduct and reports of teacher convictions; identify research priorities and, where appropriate, to promote and sponsor research according to those priorities.

- The Teachers Council joins a small international group who have established similar councils for their teachers, including British Columbia, England, Ontario, Scotland and Wales.

WHAT WILL THE TEACHERS COUNCIL OFFER TEACHERS?

- A professional voice for teachers

- A chance to raise the profile of teaching in the community

- Professional leadership promoting a single set of professional standards

- Opportunities for exchanging ideas of wise practice

- Development and promotion of a unified code of ethics

- A forum for communication between groups with responsibilities and interests in education

- Greater support for beginning teachers

- The opportunity to develop a national framework and strategy for professional development

- The means of collaborating across educational sectors

- The opportunity for teachers to understand the cultural contexts of their learners

- Protection of standards of entry into the profession

- Research about teaching and learning

- A forum for raising educational issues of public interest

- Advice to those who make education policy

MEMBERSHIP

- All people who have achieved approved teaching qualifications are eligible to apply to be registered as teachers. To teach in a free kindergarten, primary or secondary school, it is necessary to be registered.

- The Teachers Council has 72,538 registered teachers, and will have 11 Council Members supported by a Director and staff.

- The 11 Council Members will include four elected by teachers, three nominated by the NZEI, PPTA and the School Trustees Association, and four, including the Chair, appointed by the Minister of Education.

- THE MINISTERIAL APPOINTEES TO THE TEACHERS COUNCIL ARE:

Chair, Stan Rodger recently Chair of the Ministerial Kindergarten Teachers’ Pay Parity Working Group and the Ministerial Committee Reviewing the Education Review Office, former Cabinet Minister

Pembroke Bird Principal Te Kura Kaupapa Motuhake o Tawhiuau, previously Dean, Te Puna Wananga, Strategic Leadership Team, Auckland College of Education

Lili Tuioti Pacific Education Consultant, member of the Auckland University of Technology Council, past Principal of Western Springs College

Janet Kelly Educational Consultant from Motueka, former President of NZ School Trustees Association

- Three of the four elected positions are currently held by temporary ministerial appointees. They will be replaced by elected Council Members after the election later this year. They are:

Early childhood Karen Skett Senior Teacher, Wellington Kindergarten Association

Primary Marama Taiwhati Primary Teacher, Pukeatu School, Wainuiomata, Wellington

Secondary vacant

Principals Nola Hambleton Principal, Manurewa South Primary School; President Elect, International Confederation of Principals; past President NZ Principals Federation

- The nominees from the unions and STA are:

NZEI Liz Patara Principal, Clyde Quay School in Wellington; past President NZEI

PPTA Graeme Macann Associate Principal, Hutt Valley High School; past President PPTA

STA Barbara Arnott Education Consultant, East Coast Region; Member of NZ School Trustees Association; Council Member, Eastern Institute of Technology; Chair of Napier Community High School

ELECTIONS

- ELECTIONS FOR THE FOUR COUNCIL MEMBERS DIRECTLY REPRESENTING TEACHERS WILL BE HELD LATER THIS YEAR

- TO ENSURE THAT AS MANY TEACHERS AS POSSIBLE WILL VOTE, THE TEACHERS COUNCIL IS CONTACTING REGISTERED TEACHERS THROUGH THEIR WORK PLACES AND INDIVIDUALLY TO UPDATE THE DATABASE SO THAT NOMINATION INFORMATION AND VOTING DOCUMENTS CAN BE SENT TO THEM.

- IF TEACHERS DO NOT RECEIVE AN INFORMATION PACK ABOUT THE TEACHERS COUNCIL, INCLUDING AN UPDATE FORM FOR THE ELECTION, BY JUNE 30 THEY SHOULD CONTACT THE TEACHERS COUNCIL AT THE CONTACTS LISTED BELOW.

- FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE ELECTIONS WILL BE UPDATED ON THE TEACHERS COUNCIL WEBSITE, WWW.TEACHERSCOUNCIL.GOVT.NZ, AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE.

PROFESSIONAL FEE

- In the Budget, the Government has provided $400,000 in the current financial year, with further funding reducing over the next four years, to help establish the New Zealand Teachers Council. However, the Council, as with other professional bodies and the TRB before it, will be self-funding.

- The professional fee will be $120 for a three-year Practising Certificate. The registration fee charged by the TRB was $60. The reason for the increase is to enable the Teachers Council to take up its wider responsibilities.

- The former registration fee of $60 was already inadequate to cover the functions of the TRB. For the last three years the TRB ran deficit budgets, which it funded from its diminishing cash reserves.

www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz

© Scoop Media