Voting opens soon! Teaching Council Board Elections 2022  

Have your say: Disciplinary process and physical restraint consultations 

Hapori Matatū | Online Community hits milestone! 

Your Governing Council at Work  

Ngā mihi o te tau hou pakeha! ! I hope you had a lovely holiday break and are recharged for 2022.  

I am keeping this newsletter to urgent items only. While I acknowledge this may be the first week back for many of you, we have an important announcement to make in this Matatū regarding the fees and levies consultation, as noted below. We’re also in an important month for our Board elections, as voting for your new Teaching Council Board opens on the 8th of February—not long to go now! 

Primary and Secondary students will be returning to school over the next week. So, from me to you—good luck! Make sure you give yourself some time to enjoy the rest of what summer has to offer.

Noho ora mai 
Lesley Hoskin 
Chief Executive 

Upcoming: Consultation on a proposed increase to teachers’ fees and levies 

You’ll recall that in June 2021 the High Court quashed the Teaching Council’s move to annual certification and its fee increase. Since then, The Education and Training (Teaching Council fees, levies, and costs) Amendment Bill progressed through Parliament, and following royal assent, became law. The new law enables the Council to recover the actual and reasonable costs of performing all its functions through the charging of fees and levies. 

At this stage we’re planning to open our consultation around mid-February for six weeks (closing in early April), so you have time to review, consider and respond to our questions relating to the proposed increase to fees and levies. However, if you need an extension, we will describe how to request that in the consultation document we send out.

There’s never a good time to ask you to consider a proposal to increase the fees and levies you pay to us as your professional body, and we’re sorry to have to do this again at a time of year that is less than ideal. The last two years have been a continual challenge for everyone, and you have all worked so hard to provide a safe and positive space for your learners to thrive in, and given the current traffic light alert level being Red, this year is shaping up to be no different. 

Government funding will no longer be available to support the Teaching Council going forward, which we tested again recently with the Minister, leaving our options limited. As a result, we will need to consult on the proposed increase sooner rather than later.  

We hope that our consultation process will give you a better sense of what we do, and why a professional body is so important for a teaching profession. We can’t stress enough how valuable and important it is that your views are shared with us so our Governing Board can make the right decisions.  

Closer to the time you will receive an email from us with all the documents and guidance you need to take part.  

To read more on the fees and levies pre-consultation, please click here! 

Voting opens soon! Teaching Council Board Elections 2022

Late last year, the profession was given the opportunity to nominate candidates for the Teaching Council Board Elections 2022. We’ve now confirmed the candidates who you can vote for, to be the Teaching Council Board from July 2022!  

If you haven’t done so already, we encourage you to read the profiles of these candidates, so you’re well prepared for voting—which begins on 8 February 2022, until 28 February 2022. A reminder that you can only vote for the candidate in your sector. 

Keep an eye out in your inbox, as Election Services will be sending a unique voting link to your email (if you are registered and on the electoral role). 

To read the candidate profiles, please click here. 

To read more about the Teaching Council Board elections process, click here. 

Happy voting! 

Have your say: Disciplinary process and physical restraint consultations 

Proposed legislative changes to Teaching Council disciplinary processes 

The Education and Workforce Select Committee is seeking public submissions on the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No.2), which includes proposed changes to the Council’s disciplinary processes. The changes include three proposals that impact the Teaching Council, which can be found on our website, here.  

Submissions close 18 February 2022. The Teaching Council will be making a submission, and we encourage you to do the same. The Bill and submission instructions are here, please read and have your say! 
 

Reminder: Physical Restraint Consultation closes soon 

You may recall in the December Matatū e-newsletter, we announced the Ministry of Education’s consultation regarding the use of physical restraint. It’s closing soon—all kaiako and tumuaki are encouraged to review the physical restraint consultation documents, discuss them, and provide feedback. Submissions close on 31 March 2022. 

You can access the consultation documents and provide feedback here.  

More information on this consultation found on our website, here. 

Available 24/7 to receive applications for certification and registration, Hapori Matatū has been successful in significantly reducing the processing time for applications—from 20 working days down to just 5 working days. Commonly it takes just 12 minutes to complete an online application—a major timesaver compared to paper-based forms! 

Thank you to the two-thirds of the profession who have taken part in our survey, and for acknowledging the system is ‘very easy’ or ‘easy’ to use. Ka mau te wehi! 

If you haven’t yet used Hapori Matatū | Online Community, or are needing assistance using it, we have a helpful user-guide and log in guide to assist you, step-by-step of the way. With returning to school, and staff movement—this may come in handy!

The user-guide is found on our website, here. 

The log in guide is found on our website, here. 

At the December hui, your Governing Council:

• reviewed options for the fees and levies consultation 

• discussed the importance of a Te Ao Māori narrative to tell the story of the Teaching Council’s role within the profession. 

• provided feedback for the Education and Training Amendment Bill #2  

• approved the appointment of CAC (Complaints Assessment Committee) candidates 

• discussed the upcoming Board elections. 
  
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