You can apply for registration as soon as you have graduated (or are eligible to graduate) from your Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programme or if your registration expired prior to 2015.

To register for the first time, check out our video guide or follow these steps:

1) Ensure you do not have an ESL already – you might want to check old email accounts or contact the Ministry of Education Service desk at service.desk@education.govt.nz

2) Go to Hapori Matatū

3) If this is your first time applying for an ESL click the box titled “Entering Teaching in New Zealand”

4) This will take you to the Ministry of Education’s login page where you can create an ESL account

5) Click on create new account

6) Follow the onscreen instructions to create your ESL account

7) Once you have created your ESL account return to Hapori Matatū

8) Click the login button in  the top right corner of the screen, then enter your new ESL username and password

9) Click the button titled “First time registration/apply for a Practising Certificate”

10) Follow the onscreen instructions to submit your application

Once your application has been submitted, you can check the progress of your application using Miromiro (our chatbot) by clicking here.

You will be asked for your registration or case number, after entering this, we will send an update on your application status to the email address associated with your registration number. You can find your registration number in Hapori Matatū by clicking the profile icon then 'My Details'. You can find your case number under 'My Application Cases' in the 'Registration & Certification' tab.