Teaching Council Rules Update
29 July 2023
Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the Rules survey in March. It took half an hour, so we appreciate the time you put aside to feed into this mahi.
The changes will come into effect 29 July amending the previous (2016) rules. The Rule changes were developed with a Tikanga Māori approach to uphold and respect the mana of all those involved in a professional disciplinary process or competence evaluation. We want to make sure that Māori both see themselves and feel safe in this space.
If you’re interested in knowing why we needed to make the changes, please watch this quick video below:
Main points to come out of the Rules changes:
- The Council advocated for changes to the powers of the Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC), to include a higher threshold for the referral of cases from the CAC to the Disciplinary Tribunal (DT), due to complaints that our disciplinary process takes too long, which causes not only emotional stress for all involved but raises financial costs too.
- Introduction of a provision that allows a decision of the CAC to be reviewed by the DT.
- The role of the Triage Committee, what notification is sent to teachers upon receipt of a report or complaint, clarifying the attendance of support people, and changes in the competence area.
Your feedback also said you want more plain language information about these processes, so we will be working to provide that.
Some of these changes will take time to come into effect. Those reports and complaints received up until 29 July 2023 will be managed under the ‘old’ rules, including those already within our processes that are yet to be completed. Only those reports or complaints received on and after 29 July 2023 will be managed under the amended rules.
The Teaching Council Amendment Rules 2023 can be accessed on the legislation.govt.nz website. View the amended Teaching Council Rules 2016 as at 29 July 2023.