From teachers to trusted advisors: Meet Kim and Rose-Anne
30 March 2026
You might recognise Kim Bonnington and Rose‑Anne London, Senior Advisors in the Relationships and Engagement team at the Teaching Council.
They’re the vital link between the Teaching Council and the profession – often out on the road meeting with kaiako, running Rauhuia | Leadership online symposia, sharing knowledge about the Teaching Council’s regulatory role and function, the Code and Standards, policies, and co‑developing resources such as the updated Professional Growth Cycle (PGC).
Both come from teaching backgrounds and are driven by a desire to empower educators and ensure teachers’ voices are heard across the organisation. Get to know Kim and Rose‑Anne, and the mahi they do to support the profession.
Take us back to the beginning – how did your teaching careers begin?
Kim: I wanted to be a teacher after seeing my music teacher lead a class playing ‘Mellow Yellow’. He looked like he was having the best time, and I realised no two days as a teacher would ever be the same. I originally planned to teach music, but that shifted into English and Drama. I taught at Hutt Valley High and later Newlands College.
Rose-Anne: I always wanted to be a teacher, though I briefly chased the idea of becoming a chef before returning to education.
I trained in primary teaching, then discovered how much I enjoyed early childhood education while working in ECE centres. I completed my ECE postgraduate study, worked as a teacher, head teacher, and then centre manager in Palmerston North and Wellington.
Kim during a session at Wainuiomata High School.
What does a day in the life of a Senior Advisor look like?
Kim: I think there's two key places where our work can come from. It can come externally from schools and early childhood settings, or organisations wanting us to come and talk to them about the work that we do. So we may receive a request from one of those groups to present, which means we’re either preparing for those sessions or travelling to deliver them.
Or internally there's work that needs to be discussed with teachers or presented to them so that they know that it exists. We work on how those conversations can be prepped, how we think teachers are going to respond, and how we can help communicate it to them.
Rose-Anne: We also get a lot of questions from teachers and leaders, and we try our best to respond or connect them with the people who can give them the information they need. Alongside that, we lead a range of projects, everything from sector engagement to resource development, which means we’re often coordinating pieces of work, bringing people together, and making sure things land well for teachers and leaders.
Kim: It's kind of like the conduit between everything that happens with the Teaching Council and the communications with it. In and out. When they need to talk to a teacher, they'll talk to us. A really great example of this is work we have done in the last year around the professional boundaries. We took the policy that was developed by Teaching Council staff and looked at how we could best communicate it to teachers and leaders. We considered what a leader might need to have discussions on professional boundaries with their staff. And we took it out on the road. We tested the language that was being used to describe legislation and how it worked in the everyday life of a teacher. We asked what the resources will need to look like so that leaders can lead this work effectively.
Rose-Anne leading a session with the PGC focus group.
How does your experience as a teacher impact your work at the Teaching Council?
Kim: I think that relatability is important, but I want to note that there's a lot of people who work at the Council who aren't teachers, who have worked hard to get an understanding of that perspective and to see things through the eyes of a teacher. It helps, but I think one of the biggest learnings I have had is how knowledgeable people are, how supportive they are of teachers, and how well they do their job.
Rose-Anne: It definitely helps when you’re talking with a group and you introduce yourself and can say you’ve walked in their shoes. There’s an immediate sense of trust and relatability. It also shapes the leadership lens I bring to this role: uplifting the professionals who teach children, understanding what support actually looks like in practice, and making sure the work we do honours the realities of the classrooms and ECE services. That goes back to my reason for being here — helping and supporting the profession in a way that feels authentic and grounded.
What work are you most proud of?
Kim: I’m really proud of the work we did with the PGC focus group and the standards implementation. It’s going to make a huge difference. If I don't do anything else in my time here, then that's something to be proud of. And also, working with the principals and watching them get so much out of talking and sharing, and seeing them light up. That's been really cool.
Rose-Anne: It’s the little things for me. It’s having conversations with people at conferences and hearing them talk about the Teaching Council. I can then put them in touch with the right people in the organisation to help them. Those moments where someone feels heard, helped, or guided, that’s what I’m most proud of.
Kim: I think that's a big part of our job, is just unpacking some of the policies and procedures and things that we know and understand really well and being able to put that in a way that a teacher understands and relates to what they're doing and it helps them. I love that.
If you could say one thing to the profession, what would it be?
Kim: That we are a profession-led body, and I don't think teachers understand just how many of our decisions are made by teachers, whether it's the Complaints Assessment Committee, Disciplinary tribunal, or the Competence Authority. Those people are predominantly teachers. There are lay people on those panels. But it's predominantly teachers who are making those decisions, not us in a boardroom. And the same thing with the Governing Council – It’s important that teachers stand for the council and vote for the people who represent them!
Rose-Anne: I’d say that we’re here for you. Everything we do is about uplifting and supporting the profession, so don’t hesitate to reach out – we’re always here to help in whatever way we can.
