Policy for gaining full registration in settings outside the general education system

 

Teachers employed outside the general education system in New Zealand can gain full registration in specific institutions approved by the Teachers Council. Institutions seeking to apply for status as an approved setting where teachers can gain full registration can find the required information on this page.

The text below provides the legislative and policy framework under which this status can be granted. For information on the application process itself, refer to Appendix One.

Institutions currently approved as settings outside the general education system where teachers can either gain or maintain full registration are listed here.

The policy for maintaining full registration in settings outside the general education system can be accessed here.

1.0 Purpose

1.1 This policy is underpinned by the principle of enhancing both the quality of teaching and learning and the status of the profession. It aims to do this by helping to ensure that provisionally registered teachers and teachers registered 'subject to confirmation' are supported with appropriate resources, supervision, and advice and guidance to enable them to move to full registration and meet the demands of teaching in the general education system of Aotearoa New Zealand.

1.2 The policy aims to ensure that teachers seeking to gain full registration are working in settings that enable them to adequately demonstrate all of the Registered Teacher Criteria, and will be supported to do so within those settings.

2.0 Legislative Context

2.1 Full registration is granted according to the criteria in the Education Act 1989 under sections 122,123(3) (when the applicant is provisionally registered), and under section 124(3) (when the applicant is registered subject to confirmation). These sections require the Council to be satisfied that a teacher has satisfactory recent experience and has demonstrated that they are a satisfactory teacher eligible for full registration. They also include criteria of training, good character and fitness to teach.

2.2 Section 120 of the Act defines "satisfactory recent teaching experience" as

"(a) an uninterrupted period of employment of 2 years (or some shorter period approved by the NZ Teachers Council for the person), in a teaching position or teaching positions in the general education system; or

(b) a period of employment of 2 years (or some shorter period or periods approved by the NZ Teachers Council for the person), in a position (or positions) that (or each of which) was in the NZ Teachers Council's opinion equivalent to a teaching position, in an educational institution in New Zealand approved by the NZ Teachers Council (for the purposes of this part of this Act) satisfactorily completed by the person during the five years before that time"

2.3 The general education system as referred to in 2.2 (a) above, is defined in section 120 of the Act as;

(a) registered schools (as defined in section 2); and

(b) early childhood services; and

(c) other educational institutions and services established or deemed to have been established, or provided, under this Act or the Education Act 1964

2.4 The NZ Teachers Council has recognised employment in the general education system in New Zealand as being within a state, integrated or private school (including kura kaupapa Māori), kindergarten, early childhood service (including home based care services), kohanga reo, polytechnic, college of education or private teacher education provider, university or wananga. Institutions may provide evidence that they meet the statutory definition of the general education system if they are not included in the preceding list.

2.5 The authority to grant an approval or re-approval of an organisation or institution for the purposes of teacher registration lies with the Director of the NZ Teachers Council.

3.0 The Policy

3.1 Full registration is granted to teachers when they have completed an appropriate advice and guidance programme under the supervision of a fully registered teacher (the programme must be at least 2 years duration for provisionally registered teachers and at least 3 months for teachers registered subject to confirmation).

3.2 Full registration may only be gained by working in a teaching position within;

  • the general education system as described in paragraphs 2.3 and 2.4 above, or
  • an educational institution that has been approved by the NZ Teachers Council for this purpose.

3.3 Institutions outside of the general education system will only be approved as settings in which teachers may gain full registration if they can clearly demonstrate;

  • that the teaching role within the institution involves holding a prime responsibility for the planning, implementation, assessment, evaluation and reporting of a sequential programme of at least ten weeks duration. This ten week duration requirement may be waived in exceptional circumstances.

3.4 Institutions outside of the general education system should apply in writing to the New Zealand NZ Teachers Council for approval as a setting in which teachers may gain full registration. The application should be supported by evidence as set out below. Evidence provided will be assessed together as a package. (The onus is on applying institutions to provide evidence that approval should be granted. It is not the NZ Teachers Council's responsibility to 'discover' the suitability of an institution for the purposes of registration.)

3.5 Approvals may be granted for up to three years. A letter confirming approval and the expiry date of the approval will be sent to the applying institution. At the end of the term of approval a full application must be submitted for approval to be granted for a further term. It is the responsibility of each institution to monitor its own approval term and make a further application for approval, if required, at the expiration of that term.

3.6 The NZ Teachers Council will maintain a data base of all institutions holding a current approval.(www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/rt/institutionlist.stm)

4.0 Information requirements

4.1 Learning institutions need to complete information requirements (as outlined in appendix one), providing evidence of and addressing such questions as:

  • Are registered teachers employed?
  • How do those teachers keep up to date with knowledge of curriculum in order to advance the learning of students?
  • Is the institution subject to external review by a recognised body?
  • What is the nature of the education programmes being provided by teachers?
  • Is there appropriate professional development for teaching and adequate provision for supervision? and

4.2 Any other information that may help the Teachers Council make a decision

5.0 Transition Arrangements

5.1 It is recognised that some institutions were unable to reapply for approval following the expiry of their previous approval whilst the moratorium took effect from 1 July 2002 and ended at the effective date for this policy.

5.2 Due to the extended period of the moratorium on the granting of approval to institutions for the purposes of registration, the Teachers Council will put in place the following transition arrangements:

For institutions whose approval expired either;

  • Within the 6 months prior to 1 July 2002, or
  • Between 1 July 2002 and 1 January 2004.

any subsequently granted approval will take effect from the expiry date of the applying institutions most recent previous approval.

6.0 Review

6.1 This policy may be reviewed at any time at the discretion of the NZ Teachers Council and applicants can view current policy on the website.

7.0 Related Policy References

7.1 This policy can be read in conjunction with the following policies;

  • Gaining Full Teacher Registration
  • Maintaining Teacher Registration/Renewal of a Practising Certificate
  • Settings for Maintaining Full Teacher Registration
  • Language Proficiency

Effective Date: November 2003