Approval process for Initial Teacher Education programmes

Process for approvals and reapprovals

To have your ITE programme approved or reapproved you will need to follow the steps below:

  1. Contact the Manager: Teacher Education at the Teachers Council to indicate that you have a programme for which you seek approval/reapproval.  In the case of reapproval a panel must be held before the expiry date of the programme approval.
  2. If you are a non-university institution/organisation send documentation of the programme to both NZQA and the Teachers Council.
  3. If you are a university your programme documentation comes to the Teachers Council.  Following a panel it will then be considered by the universities' quality assurance body, the Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP). Also contact the Manager: Teacher Education at the Teachers Council to schedule a date for a panel visit. In order for a panel visit to be scheduled in an academic year before the end of August this is best done by January of that year.
  4. If you are a non university institution/organisation arrange a panel date with your quality assurance body (NZQA) and the Teachers Council.

The panel visit

The approval process is conducted by a panel of academic peers, sector representatives, Māori representative, institutional representative, and QAB representatives. The process is one of peer review held at the applying institution.

  • For universities the Teachers Council appoints an independent panel chair. Teachers Council has a representative on the panel.
  • NZQA makes arrangements with the institution and the Teachers Council. NZQA and the Teachers Council appoint a panel chair and each body has a representative on the panel.

The following constitutes the panel process:

  1. At the ITE provider's campus the panel meets with management, institutional programme leaders, academic teaching staff, advisory groups' external members, associate teachers, recent graduates from that institution, and current students, to evaluate the suitability of the proposed programme and the institution's capability to deliver the programme. For approval of a new programme this is likely to be a two and a half day process.  For reapproval it is likely to be a one and a half day process.
  2. A report is written and sent to the appropriate quality assurance body/bodies recommending the approval of the programme.
  3. The report recommending approval of the programme may have requirements that the institution must meet and it may contain recommendations for the institution to give serious consideration to meeting.  The recommendations for approval will not go to the Council until all the requirements have been met.
  4. The report is sent to the Manager: Teacher Education at Teachers Council for the Director to present the recommendation for approval to a meeting of the Council. The Council considers the report and the recommendations or requirements to make a final decision as to granting approval (or not) for recognition that its graduates will be eligible for teacher registration.
  5. A suitable external monitor is appointed by the Council and they will be responsible for evaluating the ongoing delivery of the programme as it is implemented as well as following up any recommendations from the panel report. The external monitor writes an annual report for the Teachers Council for newly approved programmes and for those with continuing approval, monitoring is every two years.
  6. Programmes are reviewed every six years by a review panel. 

External monitoring of approved ITE programmes

Every approved programme of ITE will have an external monitor appointed by the Teachers Council for the quality assurance of the on-going delivery of the programme. In the non-university sector the monitor is contracted to NZQA, which will then forward the monitor's report to the Council.