Teaching Council receives national Gold Worthies award for improving services for teachers
10 March 2026
Teachers’ voices have shaped an award‑winning transformation at Matatū Aotearoa | Teaching Council of New Zealand, which has received a Worthies Award for reshaping the experience of being a registered teacher.
The Teaching Council (the Council) supports more than 150,000 teachers to uphold the integrity of the profession, protect learners, and meet shared professional expectations - a responsibility that touches every classroom in Aotearoa.
For many teachers, interaction with the Council has traditionally been limited to key moments such as renewing a practising certificate. While essential, these interactions can feel high-pressure, and when information is unclear or processes are difficult to navigate, the experience of engaging with the Council can feel frustrating rather than supportive.
When teachers have clear, consistent experiences from start to finish, it changes how they feel and how they engage. When systems are confusing or delays occur, it can directly affect a teacher’s ability to work. Clarity and reassurance are not optional - they are essential to confidence and trust.
Using many of the building blocks already in place, the Council set out to redesign the digital relationship with teachers using data, technology and teacher ‑centred experience. The guiding belief was simple: services should be shaped by real needs and continuously improved through feedback from the profession.
What changed for teachers
Professional tasks are now easier to manage. A new mobile‑friendly teacher portal, My Rawa, brings together certification, learning and key updates in one secure place. Since the launch, the website and portal have recorded more than 133,000 visits, with engagement and time spent on the site more than doubling. Teachers consistently describe the experience as simpler and clearer.
Clearer, more personalised communications have reduced uncertainty during practising certificate renewal, supporting more than 10,000 teachers and saving an average of 1.4 days per application. This improvement reflects the Council responding directly to feedback from teachers, who asked for clearer guidance and a more supportive experience when navigating renewal.
At the same time frontline services across the Contact Centre, Registration team and Hapori Matatū portal were streamlined to improve access to help. Routine enquiries are now handled through Miromiro, an AI‑enhanced chatbot, allowing Council staff to focus on more complex needs.
These improvements are already delivering measurable results for teachers. Calls and emails to the contact centre have reduced by 15 percent year on year, a shift that can be credibly attributed in part to the expansion of digital self‑service options. Application satisfaction has also increased from 73 percent to 78 percent, indicating greater confidence and clarity for teachers navigating Council processes.
Teachers now have access to free, self-paced online leadership learning grounded in the Aotearoa New Zealand context and shaped by te ao Māori and Pacific leadership perspectives. More than 2,000 teachers have taken part in these professional practice offerings, with 84 percent rating the learning as relevant and 86 percent saying it will influence their practice.
Together, these improvements are shifting time and energy back where it belongs, supporting learners and strengthening teaching practice. By making information clearer and processes easier to navigate, the Council is providing professional support that is more accessible, reliable, and trusted, helping teachers understand and apply professional expectations that support safe, high-quality practice.
All statistics shown relate to the period from 18 November to the end of January.
