National President, New Zealand Principals’ Federation
When the notion of a replacement for the NZ Teachers are doctors nominated by the Minister of Health, and four are Council was first mooted, a number of concerns were listed as lay people – that is NOT doctors. its rationale. The Education Amendment Bill No 2 makes no such sensible The appalling transgressions of people like James Parker at a suggestions, and is happy to see political appointments rule Northland school were oft quoted, and so too were the actions the day. In NZPF’s submission to the Select Committee we of Te Riko Henry Miki who taught at a number of schools using made it clear that it is not acceptable to remove democratic the stolen identity of a registered teacher. processes from the very people who must not only pay for These sorts of crimes were the Council’s work, but be used to illustrate supposed However it is the teachers who guided and disciplined by it failings by the current Council too. Those people by the way, to “keep children safe” through must pay for the new council, and are called “teachers” and are its screening and vetting proud to carry the teaching processes, and any number of it is they who must also own it. qualification that they earned, recommendations have now whether it was recently or back been handed down to strengthen school processes, and of course in the dark ages like me. legislation has been drafted in the Education Amendment Bill No 2, which will pass slowly towards becoming law as we move towards the election in September. When a member of the profession is acting in a deliberate and criminal way of course, they are using every ounce of their cunning to hide their crimes and their behaviour, and set about grooming, conning, and convincing people who are trained to 10th Annual Teachers Matter Conference be trusting and empathetic in their dealings with others. There was no real failing by the Teachers’ Council, and it is creating a smokescreen to suggest otherwise. So, what lies hidden behind the smoke? The draft Bill is very badly written. It variously refers to the “teaching profession” and the “education profession” as if they are one in the same, and the Bill’s clearly preferred term is the latter. This broad brush label sweeps up all before it, including support staff and others who may eventually be empowered through the issue of a new Limited Authority to Teach to move between schools with that new ticket, teaching wherever a school struggles to appoint, or dare I suggest wishes to save its money by employing a non-teacher. However it is the teachers who must pay for the new council, and it is they who must also own it. That sense of ownership is assumed by the writers, but I suspect that teachers will have a lot more to say about that if the Bill continues unchanged. Leading International Speakers • Top NZ Speakers At the moment the entire governing Council will be appointed Specialist Workshops • Collective Wisdom Forum by the Minister, with up to five members coming from the Meet the Speakers Smorgasbord profession. Cynics will quickly recognise that “up to five” could 21/22 JANUARY SYDNEY 27/28 JANUARY ROTORUA be none, or just one, and with a sector as far flung as Education, that just won’t do. Critically, other regulating independent For more information: authorities genuinely represent their professions. www.teachersmatter.co.nz The Medical Council for example, is comprised of twelve or call us on 0800 37 33 77 people, of whom four are elected from the profession, four more
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That is why we requested in our submission that the new Council be called the Teachers’ Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, or TCANZ. The Bill’s introduction states, that it “will strengthen the capability and quality of the education profession”. Of course New Zealand’s burgeoning charter schools are not bound by any of the requirements on public schools to employ registered teachers. They can employ anyone they choose, regardless of their training or lack thereof. If a true profession is one that controls its own practice, standards, and ethical conduct, then true ownership is essential. The shape of the current Bill leads me to believe that the new Council will fail miserably unless submissions are carefully considered, and lead to some fundamental changes. 1800 submissions have been received by the Education and Science Select Committee, and while many of those will focus on the Bill’s impact on the tertiary sector, there are many concerned teachers who have demanded to be heard. There are other knee jerks within the bill too. The notion that ten per cent of the appraisal documentation relating to renewals of practising certificates in any year – in other words around 3500 documents – must be sent to Wellington for audit is extremely disappointing. It shows a lack of trust, not just in school leaders and boards, but also in the Education Review Office and its function. ERO visits schools every three years and
is well placed to triangulate practice, paperwork, and the actual critical conversations that must underpin a truly developmental framework. The real risk of this approach is that schools will respond by developing portable paper-based systems that will withstand an audit process, and we will lose the much richer and more complex quality improvement notions that schools are using more and more. Also put at risk are the Registered Teacher Criteria – clear statements of practice, developed in partnership with teachers and school leaders, and finally being used as clear statements of expectation and performance. This process has taken years, and will now be started all over again. The current Teachers’ Council has worked hard in recent years at getting its processes sorted, and winning back the confidence of its profession. Now it will all be swept away. Already Peter Lind has accepted an offer from overseas, and we once again lose a professional of great mana and personal warmth from Wellington. It is exactly this kind of devious doublespeak and hidden agenda, replicated in this bill, that has led the profession to its deep lack of trust in the educational direction of current government policy. If things are to improve then genuine trust will only start with greater transparency of purpose, and true co-construction of important initiatives. Let’s start with our very own Teachers’ Council.
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