• Judicial review update
• Upcoming Governing Council Elections 2022
• Consultation on new rules for teacher refresh
• Gathering perspectives on leadership
• Unteach Racism update
• Learning Support Coordinators and Employing Principals: practising certificate update
• 2020 teaching graduates: start your enhanced induction and mentoring programme
• Teaching Council moves premises

Happy Māori New Year!  

Welcome back from the school holidays, and if you are working for ECE, I hope you had a lovely few weeks celebrating Matariki at your center! Ngā mihi to all kaiako and tumuaki who embraced celebrating Matariki in your schools, kura, centers and community. It's great to be acknowledging and celebrating who we are and where we live.  

Matariki is a time of celebration, reflection and preparing for the new year. As kaiako and tumuaki, acknowledging the significance of Matariki with your akōnga is a way of respecting heritage, language, identity, and culture and demonstrates a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. 

Lastly, this is a long newsletter, but it contains valuable information! So, you might need to read through this kaupapa with a nice, hot kapu tī or kawhe. 

Aku mihi nui ki a koe. 

Lesley Hoskin 
Chief Executive 

JUDICIAL REVIEW UPDATE

Firstly, here's a high-level summary of the outcome of the review:   

• The court found that the information provided in the Council’s consultation document on the new fees was sufficient and lawful.  

•  The Court didn't consider that there was any failure of the Council to provide sufficient information and options on the level of fees proposed. They acknowledged that any potential cost savings realised through reduced services would be minimal, and that a substantial fee increase was the only source of income that was going to permit the Council to deliver its statutory functions.     

• The Court declared that the Council’s changes to the certification period and charging a single bundled fee for all of its statutory functions, was unlawful. This is because, the Council’s fee-setting powers under the Act have not been updated over the years to reflect the new functions for which the Council and its predecessors have been made responsible for. As a consequence the Council was found to be not legally mandated to charge teachers fees for all of its current statutory functions in a single fee. 

• The decision to establish the leadership centre (known as Rauhuia | Leadership Space) by the Council was lawful. 

•  The Council should have consulted with the profession before making the decision to move to an annual practising certificate. This decision was deemed unlawful. 

Here’s a quick recap from the communications sent earlier in the month:  

• If you were issued a new certificate between 1 February 2021 and 12 July 2021, your one-year practising certificate has been changed to a three-year practising certificate.  

• We are now issuing practicing certificates for three-years, and a renewal of a full practising certificate is charged at the old rate of $220.80. These changes have been implemented on Hapori Matatū.  

• We will provide an update on what is going to happen about the additional fee to cover the change from one year to three years when we can.  

• If you're a 1-year LAT holder and applied after 1 Feb 2021, your authorisation is still valid for the 1-year. We will be in touch again regarding financial implications.  

Financial impacts:  

We are still working through the financial implications and will advise on these matters as soon as possible. The Government have agreed to allow the Council to redirect funds allocated for moving to annual certification to operational funding. Therefore, there is no immediate risk of insolvency. However, it does mean those funds are now not available to use for annual certification, or any incremental payment options.  

For more information regarding the judicial review, read this article on the Teaching Council website.     

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Elections for seven members of the Teaching Council’s governing Board will be held in February 2022, with the election process getting underway later this year when candidate nominations open. 

During the election, seven governing Board members are chosen by the profession for a three-year term commencing 1 July 2022.  Following the election, the Minister will make 6 appointments to the remaining seats.  

Elected members include: 

• An ECE teacher elected to the Teaching Council by ECE teachers; 

• An ECE service leader elected to the Teaching Council by ECE leaders. 

• A primary teacher elected to the Teaching Council by primary teachers; 

• A primary principal elected to the Teaching Council by primary principals;  

• A secondary teacher elected to the Teaching Council by secondary teachers; 

• A secondary principal elected to the Teaching Council by secondary principals; 

• A teacher educator elected to the Teaching Council by teachers working in the fields of initial and ongoing teacher education; 

The election process and timeframes are governed by the Teaching Council of Aotearoa Election Rules 2018. This means key dates will fall close to the end of term 4 2021 and early in term 1 2022. We understand these are busy times for teachers so we are going to share all the information and key dates over the coming months, to ensure the process is easy to follow, and you have plenty of time to nominate and vote.   

For more information regarding the Governing Council Election process, please follow this link.  

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We’ll soon be circulating a consultation document on proposed new Rules for the teacher refresh processes when renewing practising certificates. This will include the policy changes that will be needed for the proposed new Rules, and policy changes for other circumstances where teacher refresh processes may be required.  

The proposed new Rules are required to be made under Section 486(1)(h) of the Education and Training Act 2020. However, it’s proposed that they will reflect existing policy and practice, building on current teacher refresh processes, rather than introducing a whole new approach. 

The Council welcomes feedback from all teachers, professional leaders, peak bodies, and other stakeholders who may be affected by the proposed new Rules and policy changes.   

The consultation document will be available on our website, so keep a look out from Monday 9 August 2021. 

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We're privileged to be involved in a range of conversations with teachers and leaders who are keen to explore how to grow leadership, and we continue to find the best ways to grow leadership within the ECE sector.  

We are gathering perspectives from the profession to ensure the Rauhuia | Leadership Space will help all teachers and leaders to build leadership capability across the profession.  

Teachers in primary, secondary and ECE

We have heard from many of you already. Those who have provided feedback to date have been very clear about the desire for a coherent, system-wide approach to leadership to support you in developing individual capabilities, and engaging communities. We’ve heard that teachers are keen to be provided with opportunities to form genuine networks and partnerships with others. There has been resounding agreement with the Te Tiriti basis of Rauhuia, and many teachers and leaders have been supportive in the potential of Rauhuia shaping Aotearoa New Zealand Leadership. 

Please keep this feedback coming! 

Start your own or join one of the below conversations trending on Hapori Matatū | Online Community, a teachers-only conversation forum:  

• What are your ideas for growing leadership capability? 

• How do you build wellness into leadership?  

• Who would you want to work with to grow leadership capability and thinking?  

• What have you learned about effective leadership through change during the COVID-19 pandemic?  

Send your feedback to our Rauhuia email address, here. 

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We're delighted to have Linda Miller and Iva Ropati working in collaboration with the Teaching Council and the NZPF, to head up the principal strand of this leadership initiative. Hopefully, principals & tumuaki will have responded to the survey they sent. Should you want to speak further with either, please contact them through: 

• Linda: rauhuialm@gmail.com 

• Iva: iva.ropati@howick.school.nz 

• Or Rauhuia@teachingcouncil.nz 

Also joining the Rauhuia | Leadership initiative, in collaboration with NZEI, are Anastasia Aukuso-Lolo and Stephen Lethbridge. Over the next few months, they are seeking to find out more about what Year 0-8 teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders identify as the priorities for leadership. This will help to form an action plan, and ensure Rauhuia is shaped to meet the needs of the profession.  

For further information on Rauhuia & the Leadership Strategy email this address.

Since the launch of Unteach Racism, Taika Waititi's video has been viewed by over 1.7 million people, the website has had over 30,000 views, the app has been used by 5000 people, and our first Unteach Racism newsletter has been sent out - exciting!  

But for the Teaching Council, we are most excited that conversations are now starting. Engagement, feedback and discussions are key to ensuring we can take the next step towards identifying and confronting racism, together. Unteach Racism presents a professional learning opportunity for your Professional Growth Cycle, it is completely optional and is not required for your certification.  

For those of you who haven’t accessed the Unteach Racism app and modules yet, you can connect from either your mobile or desktop to grow your knowledge and understanding. Our quarterly newsletter will also support your journey with details about Unteach Racism, relevant research, updates from kaiako and tumuaki, as well as resources and helpful tips. Each edition features a guest speaker to share their perspective and experience of Unteach Racism so far. Sign up for future editions here! 

Want to connect with the Unteach Racism app now?

If you're on your desktop, click here to go straight to the app.

To use the app on your mobile, scan the QR code below to get started.

We’ve been working with the Ministry of Education and a group of Learning Support Coordinators (LSCs) to understand how teachers or kaiako working in a Learning Support Coordinator role can maintain a Tuturū Full (Category One) practising certificate, while using and meeting the Standards for the Teaching Profession or Ngā Paerewa mō te Umanga Whakaakoranga. 

By analysing the role descriptions in relation to the Standards or Paerewa, it was clear that LSCs can be using and meeting the Standards or Paerewa in their everyday work. As for some other teaching roles, the learners will be teachers rather than children or young people.  

Of course the LSC's participation in a professional growth cycle is required. The endorser for a teacher in this role will be the employing principal or tumuaki and endorsement decisions will be made based on the LSC’s practice as required for the Tuturū Full (Category One) practising certificate. 

For more information, please follow this link to our website, or get in touch for a conversation.

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REMINDER FOR 2020 TEACHING GRADUATES: start your enhanced induction and mentoring programme 

This government-funded programme is free of charge to newly qualified full-time teachers and relievers, whose initial teacher education practical experience was affected by COVID-19. 

If you have already been working full-time in a school this year, enrol now before the new term starts. Together with your mentor, you can reflect and build on the experience and knowledge that you have built up so far.  

If you are a relief teacher, the program can still support you by facilitating the induction and supporting your professional development. 

Enrol now 

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TEACHING COUNCIL MOVES PREMISES

From Monday 9 August, the Teaching Council will be at our new premises.   

Our current premises (80 Boulcott Street) needs both internal and external earthquake proofing upgrades which require us to relocate. 

From 9 August, our new address is as follows: 

Level 11

NZ Post House 

7 Waterloo Quay 

Pipitea, Wellington 6011 

Our PO Box remains the same:  

PO Box 5326 

Wellington 6140