Teachers flock to Innovation Fund

Teachers flock to Innovation Fund

The high number of applications for the government’s new $10m Teacher-led Innovation Fundshows the enthusiasm for developing and sharing innovative ideas following a long drought of professional development funding.

More than 200 applications have been made for the first $2m round of the fund, which is the one part of the government’s Investing in Educational Success scheme that primary teachers and principals are excited about.

NZEI Te Riu Roa past President Judith Nowotarski said there was a real hunger for flexible professional development and support for teachers, especially since National Standards was introduced in 2010. Since then, most professional development funding has been funnelled into training teachers how to assess students under National Standards.

“Teachers want to build on and share innovative ideas for the benefit of their students, and this initiative offers the funding and flexibility that we need to do that,” said Ms Nowotarski.

“We want to see more of this sort of resourcing, and including the early childhood education sector too. It’s a far more effective use of money than the $359m IES scheme, which most schools don’t think will make a real difference in helping children achieve,” she said.

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