Development of the ITE programme requirements

The requirements come from consultation with the ITE sector and other key stakeholders.

We know that our ITE system needs to be responsive to changes in education, as New Zealand early childhood settings and schools are becoming more diverse.

It is within this context that we collaborated with ITE providers to develop a future-focused ITE system that prepares every teaching graduate with the skills to adapt to a changing education environment. This is an ITE system which also embraces, and reflects, the unique sociocultural context of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The new ITE Programme Approval, Monitoring and Review Requirements, launched in July 2019,  come from consultation starting in 2016 with the ITE sector and other key stakeholders.

We released a discussion paper in July 2016: Strategic options for developing future orientated Initial Teacher Education

We worked with Professor Roger Moltzen on an advice paper about the evidence for making ITE a postgraduate qualification: Positioning ITE as a postgraduate qualification.

We released a literature review about the features of quality practica arrangements undertaken by the New Zealand Council of Educational Research (NZCER):

We set up an initial teacher education advisory group (ITEAG) to provide us with advice and guidance on, among other things, shaping the Requirements.

The ITEAG was a mix of ITE experts and innovators along with different roles and perspectives from across the ITE system. 

Members come from including early childhood education, primary and secondary sectors, and both Māori medium and English medium settings. They include teachers, ITE providers, principals and early childhood education centre managers.

Members were invited to participate on the basis of their individual knowledge, expertise and personal attributes, to make sure the Teaching Council received the best advice possible. 

ITEAG members held regular meetings from January 2018 to May 2019. If you would like further information about ITEAG meetings or membership please email us.

In 2017, we consulted with the profession on proposals for future-focused ITE. We received around 200 submissions and wrote a summary of our consultation findings.  Later in 2017 we released our vision for the new ITE system and detailed decisions.

In July 2018, we released the draft requirements for consultation. In December 2018, we released an ITE Statement setting out what we heard, our response, and next steps.

We also commissioned Graeme Aitken and Claire Sinnema from University of Auckland in 2018 to develop a new assessment framework for how providers could assess whether student teachers meet the Standards (in a supported environment).  They were assisted by an assessment working group.  Their work was also informed by two hui with ITE providers in October 2018. The results were:

  1. A process for providers to use to unpack the Standards (also outlined in the Requirements as Appendix I)
  2. An assessment framework (outlined in the new Requirements as Appendix II).
  3. A sample key teaching tasks professional experience report
  4. Further details on how to design a Culminating Integrative Assessment