Matatū March: Teaching Council e-newsletter

Ngā mihi mahana ki a koe 

February was a busy month for consultations. While I appreciate you may see this as more work to do, I’d like to explain why consultations are so important, and how they directly impact you as a teacher, professional leader, or principal. 

Giving feedback or writing a submission in a consultation process allows you to have your say on plans before big decisions are made. This feedback is then presented to a Board, who will review it and make an informed decision, with an open mind. Important decisions are made based on your feedback, and currently includes consultation on your registration fees, safely applying physical restraint in your classroom or setting, and changes to the disciplinary process—some decisions that may directly affect you.

You will see we have a few consultations open that require your feedback, and I strongly encourage every teacher, kaiako, principal, tumuaki and professional leader to have your say! Information on these consultations is found in this newsletter below, and on the consultation section of our website. 

I want to reassure you that your feedback will be presented to the Governing Council for their careful consideration, prior to making any decisions.  

Noho ora mai 
Lesley Hoskin 
Chief Executive 

Have your say: fees and levy consultation

The Teaching Council is consulting on proposed increases to registration and practicing certificate fees and levies. 

The Government has decided to no longer subsidise your fee and levy, limiting the options available to the Teaching Council. The Council has not increased its fees in twelve years, despite rising costs, including inflation. That means that while costs have increased for us to perform mandatory functions, fees paid by the teaching profession have not. 

One of the elements of any profession is that they are self-managing and self-lead. Therefore, it’s important the teaching profession are the ones responsible and accountable for such things as setting the standards and code of professional responsibility—and that you hold each other to account for those. Fees and levies, and the other contributions teachers and leaders make, allow the Teaching Council to do the necessary work, so the teaching profession remains strong, effective, and trusted for the good of our mokopuna, tamariki, and rangatahi. 

We acknowledge the consultation process is a particularly important part of our democratic processes, and encourage every teacher, principal, and professional leader to have your say. The Council wants to reassure you we will consider all feedback we receive. 

The consultation on proposed fees and levy closes at 5pm, 1 April 2022. 

More information on this consultation can be found here. 

Board elections—meet your successful candidates!

We’re excited to share some of our new Governing Council with you! Please click here to see a list of the successful candidates from each sector.  

From here, the Minister of Education will appoint 6 other Governing Council members. We will then be able to share our entire new Governing Council with you, who will take office from 1 July 2022. 

A huge congratulations to our new Governing Council—we look forward to working with you when you take office! 

To get all the up-to-date information on the elections, click here. 

The Council’s submission to the proposed disciplinary process changes  

The purpose of the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No.2) is to make amendments across a range of subjects in the Education and Training Act 2020. Some of these proposed changes are related to the way mandatory reports and complaints are managed through our disciplinary process. 

The Teaching Council raised this issue as we felt the current legislation hasn’t got the balance of referrals between the Complaints Assessment Committee and the Disciplinary Tribunal right, leading to greater costs, time and uncertainty for teachers. We have actively sought and supported the proposed changes to our purpose, our functions, and our disciplinary processes. We’re engaging with stakeholders to review our processes with the aim of embedding the concepts of Te Tiriti-led and tikanga Māori, values-based, giving mana to the voice of teachers | kaiako and protecting the mana of all, enhancing natural justice principles, and taking a restorative and rehabilitative approach as appropriate.  

To read the Teaching Council’s submission, click here. 

The Council made an oral submission to the select committee on 2 March 2022 – this can be viewed here. This is the second video under the title “Watch live hearings of the Education and Workforce Committee.” 

You will hear the Teaching Council Chief Executive, Lesley Hoskin, presenting the oral submission at around the 29 minute mark. 

What does physical restraint mean? 

Since the physical restraint framework was first introduced in 2017, members of the profession have told us they felt the Guidelines lacked the clarity and guidance needed to provide confidence about how and when to safely apply physical restraint. 

The definition of physical restraint, 'to use physical force to prevent, restrict, or subdue the movement of the student’s body or part of the student’s body’ has been amended to include ‘against the student’s will.’ This addition clarifies that physical contact such as hugging or contact with ākonga when it is not against their will is permissible: 

“Physically restrain, in relation to a student, means to use physical force to prevent, restrict, or subdue the movement of the student’s body or part of the student’s body against the student’s will.” 

There are three conditions that must all be met before physical force can be used as a last resort:  

1. the physical restraint is necessary to prevent imminent harm to the student or another person; and  

2. the teacher or authorised staff member reasonably believes that there is no other option available in the circumstances to prevent the harm; and  

3. the physical restraint is reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances. 

The Council has played a key role in trying to provide greater clarity about acceptable physical contact within the Guidelines and developing practical examples to help with school | kura discussions about options for managing behaviours and responding to situations. 

All kaiako and tumuaki are encouraged to review the physical restraint consultation documents, discuss them, and provide feedback. The Teaching Council’s Governing Council will be making a submission. A major focus of that submission will be on ensuring that employers and tumuaki are provided with the training and resources needed to meet the requirements of the physical restraint framework. Submissions close on 31 March 2022. 

You can read more on the physical restraint consultation, here. 

The Teaching Council has recently published an ITE report - Creating an equitable future-focused Initial Teacher Education (ITE) system – the new ITE Requirements – the journey so far. This report is about an important part of the education sector—preparing student teachers for their professional teaching career. 

Now is the right time to reflect on the ITE journey since the new ITE Requirements were published in 2019. The new ITE Report outlines the reasons why this journey has been undertaken, the changes introduced by the new ITE Requirements, and where we are at two years after the new ITE Requirements publication, including emerging strengths, challenges, and the planned journey ahead.  

We encourage you to read this report. We acknowledge parts of the profession will have diverse levels of understanding about the purpose of the ITE Requirements, how they are developed, how ITE providers apply them and how they are approved. We’ve suggested options for how to read this report based on the reader’s familiarity with the ITE sector and processes, on our website. 

To read more about this report, and the report itself, head to our website. 

Webinars: Professional Growth Cycle for teachers & leaders  

We’ve now started the new school year, and you may be looking at how you can implement your Professional Growth Cycle (PGC). We have a range of webinars on offer to support you and your team with implementing the PGC for teachers and kaiako. We also have webinars to introduce tumuaki, principals and ECE professional leaders to the Elements of the PGC for leaders. 

To get involved with the webinars, head to our website! 

years old! Much of it remains significant for teachers today. We’re about to undertake a refresh that aligns Tātaiako to the 2017 Standards for the Teaching Profession | Ngā Paerewa, and makes the indicators and voices of learners more relevant to our current context. To give it the space and time this important mahi deserves, we have planned to undertake this in late 2022.  

Tātaiako is one of many important resources to help with your learning, and interpretation of the Standards | Ngā Paerewa. It’ll also assist you with designing your Professional Growth Cycle (PGC). 

To read the current publication of Tātaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers of Māori Learners, please follow this link to our website, here. 

Meet our principals in residence!

We’ve been delighted to host two school principals in the last six months, working alongside our Teacher Capability and Collaboration team, to connect with the profession! 

Myles Ferris “Tumuaki-in-Residence,” was seconded from Te Kura o Otangarei to gather voice, particularly from kaiako and tumukai Māori, on the development of Rauhuia | Leadership and to share the Professional Growth Cycle for tumuaki, principals and ECE professional leaders. Myles was able to travel extensively throughout Aotearoa (where Covid restrictions allowed) to meet with teachers from across the sectors. His work has assisted the Council to identify key priorities for Rauhuia. Thanks, Myles! 

James Thomas, “Principal-in-Residence,” is the principal of Whangaparoa College, and a previous member of the SPANZ executive. In that role, James was a member of the working group which developed the Professional Growth Cycle for tumuaki, principals and ECE professional leaders. He is now extensively involved in developing materials for schools, centers, and Boards to support the implementation of the PGC for leaders, and in delivering seminars and presentations on the PGC.  

Myles and James have been a huge asset to the Teaching Council whānau. If you’re interested in working for the Teaching Council on secondment, please get in touch! Email Humanresources@teachingcouncil.nz with a little bit about yourself, and why you would like to work here on secondment. 

At the February hui, your Governing Council:

• approved the final fees and levies consultation 

• discussed the Education and Training Amendment Bill 

• approved the 2021-2022 Annual Report  

• discussed the Council’s strategic plan