Applying for Teacher Registration

As the Government's Strategic Plan for Early Childhood progresses and the new funding system comes into play, the demand for registered teachers is increasing. As a result the pressure on qualified teachers to make applications to the Teachers' Council to become registered (or to renew their practising certificates) is increasing. Many people in the sector have concerns about the process.

In Wellington many of these concerns were raised and aired at the “Chalk and Cheese” seminar that was organised jointly by OMEP and the NZ Teachers' Council and held late last year. Early childhood umbrella groups have met with the Teachers' Council since then and some progress has now been made in resolving these issues, while others remain a problem.

Communication with the sector
The Teachers' Council has acknowledged that communication with the sector could be improved. The Teachers' Council website provides some information, but not all early childhood teachers have access to a computer. It has been suggested that information be distributed through a variety of avenues, e.g. through umbrella organisations, but also directly to each centre.

The Teachers' Council has appointed a new Advisor Teacher Education. From the end of April early childhood education registration issues can be directed to Sandy Radford at the Teachers' Council.

Turn around time for applications
People who applied for registration towards the end of last year may have been frustrated by the slow response from the Teachers' Council. The Council says however, that there was some internal debate at that time, about what applicants were required to provide. The turn around time for those applying since February this year is between 4 and 6 weeks. Current staffing and funding to the Teachers' Council does not allow applications to be processed any quicker. Applications that take longer than this may be outside the norm.

Acceptable Advice and Guidance processes for Early Childhood
There is currently no specific recommended early childhood advice and guidance process available through the Teachers' Council or the Ministry of Education. The Council and the Ministry are in the process of deciding how this will be developed and who will be involved in writing it. “Towards Full Registration” a document produced for the primary sector in 2004, sets out a process for that sector. It has not yet been decided whether an early childhood process will be included in this document or whether a specific resource will be developed for early childhood. Either way it is not likely to be available before the end of October.

Delays in processing and the link to funding
Since the 1st of April ECEC centres are strongly motivated to have as many teachers as possible who are classified as fully, or provisionally registered because this has a significant impact on the level of funding the centre will receive for the current funding period. The link between speed in processing applications and the centre's ability to attract higher funding levels has now been strongly relayed to the Teachers' Council, and early childhood organisations have proposed that centres be funded retrospectively if teachers whose applications for registration area eventually approved, submitted them prior to March 31st 2005