Move to the 2026 Standards
More information on the move to the new Standards for the Teaching Profession over 2026 and 2027.
On this page
How the ‘switch-over’ will work in practice
Early childhood education (ECE) services and schools should expect to be using the 2026 Standards:
- for the Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) from 2026, and
- as the basis for re-certification from 2027.
Guidance on how to use and interpret the 2026 Standards is available. We know that principals and ECE professional leaders are looking for advice as to how to enact the Standards and you can find help in the section Support for implementation below.
For 2025, PGC annual summary statements will continue to be based on the 2017 Standards.
When schools and ECE services begin their PGC in 2026, they will need to firstly facilitate a common understanding of the 2026 Standards and what meeting and using them in their practice looks like in their setting (PGC Element A). You can find support for how you can enact the Standards in your PGC on our PGC resources page.
When it comes time for PGC Element E to be enacted, i.e. each teacher’s annual summary to be completed, the recognition that a teacher's practice meets the Standards will be according to the Standards used in Element A for that year.
Endorsement decisions for the renewal of practising certificates are made every three years. Principals and professional leaders will use the most recent annual summary statements of the previous three years to endorse teachers for their practising certificates.
This means that for a time, endorsement decisions will be made from annual summary statements that represent practice from both the 2017 and 2026 Standards.
The 2026 Standards at a glance
The 2026 Standards are intended to build upon the 2017 Standards, preserving many of their key features.
They are made up of eight standards that describe what high-quality teaching practice looks like and what it means to be a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand.
These eight standards, spread across three domains, are set out in the diagram below.
Each standard contains a set of focus areas that provide additional detail. The focus areas are intended to interpret each standard and support teachers to identify and develop high quality practices in their settings.
The standards and focus areas in full can be found in Introducing the 2026 Standards for the Teaching Profession. They have also been laid out as an A3 table.
Support for implementation
To support you to interpret and apply the 2026 Standards in your setting, we’re developing a series of resources to support the transition to the new standards. We’re currently collaborating with a small group of leaders from across all sectors of the profession.
Together, these leaders will reflect on their own Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) and explore ways to enact the elements to support the implementation of the 2026 Standards through the PGC. These activities and resources will show how the PGC can bring the Standards to life within the contexts of the teaching settings themselves.
You will have the opportunity to create your own PGC using the resources, or to pick and choose the different components you think will work in your setting.
These activities and exemplars are coming soon.
We’ve also got the 2026 Rauhuia Symposia series - Leading Teachers through the Professional Growth Cycle underway with each session offering practical strategies to build shared understanding, co-design growth cycles, lead purposeful learning and conversations, confirm progress, and foster collective improvement — all while supporting teachers to meet the Standards in a sustainable, strengths-based way.
You can book online through our Symposia page.
You can view the release of all supporting resources in the timeline below.
Resources
You can also visit our webpage on the Professional Growth Cycle.
Implications for Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
As noted above, the 2026 Standards will come into formal effect from 1 January 2027, including for ITE programmes. The Teaching Council’s plan to update and approve programme changes that prepare graduates to meet the 2026 Standards (in a supported environment) is set out in the document Special programme change process: Preparing ITE graduates to meet the 2026 Standards (in a supported environment). The Teaching Council is looking to reduce monitoring and review obligations of existing programmes while updates are made.
We will also work to help providers ‘dovetail’ the impacts of our changes with those of other processes that they need to respond to (in particular curriculum change).
The What’s Similar and What’s Different? document was designed to be a valuable resource for providers in considering to what extent programme content and structure needs to be adapted for the 2026 Standards.
Following the recent consultation on the discussion paper A nationally consistent Induction model to support new teachers, revised documentation to support the induction and mentoring process will also be developed. This will also take account of the shift to the 2026 Standards.
Towards new Ngā Paerewa
Leading up to the release of the standards consultation document, we began the process of engagement with leaders of the profession in Māori medium settings to develop the expression of the standards in te reo Māori. This has developed in two directions.
One of these is a translation of the 2026 Standards into te reo Māori. A draft translation has been developed and, following engagement with partner organisations, will soon be made available more widely.
The other direction has been a discussion of the prospect for Māori medium leaders to develop professional standards that speak to the particular circumstances of their settings. This discussion is ongoing.
Further reading
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Related links
Your go-to hub: My Rawa
My Rawa brings the Code and Standards to life with practical tools and real-world guidance. No matter where you are in your journey, it helps you stay grounded and connected to the heart of the profession.
