High-quality teacher training programme extended

Education Minister Hekia Parata has today announced the extension and expansion of a ground-breaking teacher training programme to help strengthen and grow the teacher workforce.

“The Teach First NZ pilot has been very effective in attracting high-achieving graduates into teaching. That’s why I’m pleased we’ve extended the programme for a further three years to train 40 new secondary school teachers, and are expanding it by another ten places focused on science, technology and maths in 2017. This means there will be up to 50 newly trained teachers from this programme by the end of 2018,” says Ms Parata.

“We’re committed to recruiting the best and brightest into teaching, particularly in high-demand subjects like science, technology and maths. The extra places and the expansion to allow Teach First NZ to cover technology graduates will help attract more new teachers for these subjects.”

Teach First NZ is a field-based Initial Teacher Education programme developed by the University of Auckland and the Teach First NZ Trust which recruits high-calibre graduates and places them in low-decile secondary schools for an initial two-year commitment.

“This programme selects graduates at the top of their game, just the type of teachers we want in schools. It also has a high completion and retention rate, so we’re backing it to recruit more quality graduates,” says Ms Parata.

The Ministry of Education has also released the third of four evaluation reports into the Teach First NZ programme.

The report, commissioned by the Ministry from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research, found that by their second year in the programme, most Teach First NZ trainees are considered by their mentors to be very effective in helping raise student achievement.

“It highlights the quality support and mentoring for trainees, as well as the opportunities for them to be immersed in classroom settings and have the time to reflect on what they’re learning.

“The strength of the relationship between Teach First NZ and the University of Auckland is an important factor in the success of the programme.”