Teacher registration

 Criteria help define teaching role

Teachers will soon have new criteria to meet to gain or renew full registration

Describing the essential elements that all teachers from beginners to experienced hands should exhibit is no easy feat, but it looks like new Registered Teacher Criteria might be up to the mark.

From next year, teachers will be assessed against the criteria for registration purposes.

The criteria replace the Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions and will be introduced in a phased manner.

Behind the work is the New Zealand Teacher’s Council which handles teacher registrations.

Director Peter Lind says the new criteria are all about understanding what is important in a teacher’s job, be it in early childhood education, primary or secondary schooling.

“It’s really about how we want to define a teaching position for 2009 and onwards.”

The new criteria represent the essential knowledge and capabilities for quality teaching and they are set out to be both achievable and aspirational. They apply to teachers throughout their careers.

Development of the criteria began in 2006 and included extensive consultation with the education sector. This year, the draft criteria were used by participants in a pilot programme run by the University of Canterbury for the Council.

That involved a range of settings and the whole gamut of teachers: principals and head teachers, mentor teachers, provisionally registered teachers and experienced teachers.

They took part in workshops, were visited on-site and were supported to use the criteria and give feedback during a nine-month period. Feedback was strongly positive, suggesting the criteria have hit the mark.

Ninety-three per cent of participants agreed the criteria were good descriptions of teaching practice, values and relationships. They explored how evidence for meeting the criteria could be drawn from everyday teaching practice.

“We’ve got a rich resource of workshop materials to stimulate thoughts on how these might look in the workplace,” says Peter.

He says they were asked if criteria provided a valid framework to guide professional learning and development. “There was a very strong affirmation that they did.”

The majority also agreed they would be useful for experienced teachers, who will be assessed against the criteria when they renew their practising certificates.

Peter says the adaptability of the criteria reflect the way teachers keep up-to-date and prepare for varied challenges throughout their career.

“They have real strengths when they come into the profession and they have areas where they need extra assistance and that changes over a career pathway.”

People consulted during development also said the criteria meshed well with The New Zealand Curriculum.

Final refinements will go to the Council for approval at the end of this month, before being gazetted, he says.

“Then, there will be a roll-out period that gives people an opportunity to become familiar in working with them.”

Roll-out for registered teacher criteria

2010 Workshops and regional meetings to familiarise teachers with the use of the RTC.

2011 All teachers renewing practising certificates will use RTC.

2014 All teachers will have encountered RTC in registration or renewal process.

Draft criteria

There are five criteria under the banner of professional relationships and professional values, and seven criteria that correspond with professional knowledge in practice. Each criteria has key indicators which give more detail of what is expected.

The overall ideas are that fully registered teachers form appropriate and effective relationships and demonstrate a commitment to important values. They build a stimulating, challenging and supportive learning environment that promotes success for all students.

A detailed list of draft criteria and indicators is online:
www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/policy/projects.stm

Teachers by numbers

Coming up on October 30 is World Teachers’ Day. To celebrate, the Teacher’s Council will host a one-day conference in Wellington on the new Registered Teacher Criteria and ideas for their use.

In the spirit of World Teachers’ Day, the Education Gazette dug up a few interesting facts and figures about the profession.

• The latest figures show there are over 46,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state schools. There are at least 16,000 registered teachers in early childhood education services too. Picture a staffroom big enough to take all of you and even the redeveloped Eden Park won’t have enough seats. Imagine the queue for coffee!

• The largest staff of any single-site school in New Zealand is in fact the 180-plus teachers at Rangitoto College, our largest secondary school. With nearly 3000 students to support, staff numbers include six deputy principals and 11 deans.

• That said, the Correspondence School employs 424 teaching staff, just over half of whom are full-time.

• By contrast there are 110 sole-charge schools run by a lone teaching principal.

• Worldwide, humanity simply can’t get enough teachers. Unesco estimates 10.3 million new teachers must be recruited worldwide between 2007 and 2015 to meet the goal of universal primary education. Some African countries need to expand their teaching workforce 12-15 per cent each year.

• The public considers teachers a trustworthy bunch. Each year, Readers Digest asks a poll of 500 New Zealanders what the most trusted professions are and for the past few years, teachers were consistently ranked ninth. That top-ten finish puts you up there with firefighters, doctors, and members of the armed forces.

Unesco has more information related to the day:
www.unesco.org/en/teacher-education/advocacy/world-teachers-day