Goodbye paper, hello digital! The Teaching Council moves online

The days of paper-based application forms for teacher certification are over at the Teaching Council, professional body for teachers. The move to digital means working with the Council will be smoother and more efficient than ever before, which means more time for teachers to do what they do best – nourishing the minds and spirits of our tamariki!

The Teaching Council’s new online system Hapori Matatū | Online Community launches today and will deliver all Council services online, plus teachers will have access to an exclusive online community that connects more than 100,000 teachers in a network of support and collaboration.

Teaching Council Chief Executive Lesley Hoskin says moving services online is transformational for both the organisation, teachers and education leaders. The move was fueled by a desire to do better for teachers.

“Front of mind throughout the whole project was ensuring teachers and professional leaders would have access to a platform that would make life easier for them. We wanted to enhance teachers’ experience with us: applying will be quicker and intuitive, application processing faster, lines of communication open and responsive,” she says.

Once teachers log in to the secure Hapori Matatū platform via their Education Sector Logon they can track the progress of their applications in real-time, engage in any conduct or competency issues and join an online community with 100,000 of their peers. It is a safe and secure place for registered teachers to work with each other.

“Hapori means community or family in te reo Māori and we hope to foster a welcoming and caring environment for teachers to share best practice and discuss high-quality teaching and leadership in the community,” Lesley says.

“I believe this is the first platform of its kind for teachers – it connects more than 100,000 teachers to network, discuss and share their expertise as professionals in a trusting and safe space. As we have seen in the last few weeks during lockdown, working online has incredible potential to help build strong and meaningful relationships, so the ability to discuss topics of interest, set up groups, run polls and have teachers working together across the country sharing best practice and knowledge is timely.”

Alongside the launch of Hapori Matatū there is a new policy for registration and certification. Teacher Registration, Practicing Certification and Limited Authority to Teach has been developed in consultation with teachers and has simplified the process so teachers and professional leaders can more easily understand what is required to register and apply for certification.

Lesley adds, “The Council is focused on supporting a self-managing profession, including greater reliance on the endorsement of professional leaders to confirm that a teacher meets, or is likely to meet the Standards | Ngā Paerewa, the new policy, will have Our Code, Our Standards at the heart of it.” We have also built in the requirement for the teaching profession to grow their cultural competence.

Northland School principal Jeremy Edwards was one of our beta-testers for Hapori Matatū. He says it was a privilege to be a part of the testing and see its development based on user feedback.

“I know how easy and intuitive the system is and I think that teachers and principals will really appreciate the simplicity of the step by step process,” he says.

For more information or interview opportunities please contact:
Allison Hess, Media advisor
Phone: 021 191 8928, Allison.Hess@teachingcouncil.nz