Waikato Trained Teachers Emerge Quality-Assured

Waikato Trained Teachers Emerge Quality-Assured

Waikato University produces high-quality teachers who are highly regarded in the profession thanks to its stringent selection procedures, says the head of teacher education at the University’s top-ranked Faculty of Education.

Responding to concerns raised by the Teachers Council about the poor quality of newly-trained teachers, Beverley Cooper, Director of the Centre for Teacher Education, says Waikato – like all the universities -- accepts only qualified applicants for teacher education programmes

“All our applicants are initially shortlisted based on academic criteria and referees’ reports from people who have had seen the applicants in interactions with young people,” she says.

Mrs Cooper says the applicants are interviewed by panels of senior academic staff, and teachers from the relevant sector (primary, early childhood and secondary) are often represented on the panel.

“Last year we turned down over 400 applicants for various reasons such as not meeting the academic standard or not demonstrating they could interact appropriately in New Zealand classrooms.”

The Faculty’s Dean, Professor Alister Jones, says Waikato has been offering nationally and internationally recognised teacher education programmes for 50 years. “We stand for quality,” he says. “And we only want quality teachers in front of classrooms.”

There are currently more than 1,700 students enrolled in teacher education programmes at the University of Waikato, including 181 at the University’s Tauranga campus. Some 300 students are completing their teaching qualifications through distance learning.

Students must complete 20 weeks of actual classroom teaching in the three-year Bachelor of Teaching programme, and 14 weeks minimum in the one-year graduate programmes. During these periods they are supervised by registered NZ teachers and visited regularly by academic staff from the Faculty of Education.

On graduation, Waikato-trained teachers are highly sought after by school principals, says Mrs Cooper. “There are some principals who employ Waikato grads preferentially for the quality of their teacher education course, and although it’s hard to track our graduates virtually all of them win positions, and certainly if they’re prepared to move out of Hamilton or Tauranga.”

Faculty Dean Professor Jones says the success of the graduates comes down to Waikato’s research-informed programmes.

“We’re ranked top in the country for the quality of our research. A lot of the work we do informs best practice within schools – it’s research that makes a difference in the classroom.”

ENDS

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