The Education Workforce Advisory Group report noted that there are approxi-
mately 51,000 teachers in more than 2500 schools throughout New Zealand. The
report argued:
To ensure that the teaching profession can attract and retain high quality individuals, broad
changes are needed in the way that the profession is perceived. Teachers cannot afford to be
isolated practitioners working within a single classroom. If teaching is to be seen as a high
status profession much greater emphasis is needed on continued learning by teachers within
schools supported by clear and strong professional leadership and the sharing of effective
practice across schools. (p. 2)The report focused on teacher education and in particular initial teacher education
(ITE); recognition, reward and progression of teachers within the profession; pro-
fessional leadership; and diversity. An understanding of ‘theories of teaching,
learning and development and the skills necessary to operate effectively within
teaching environments’was seen as a key determinant of raising the quality and
status of the teaching profession. Professional leadership and leadership develop-
ment were recognised as key to raising the quality of teaching.
The Advisory Group made several sets of recommendations for ITE including:
- moving towards initial teacher education being provided only at postgraduate
level (so that entry into teaching is dependent on holding a postgraduate
qualification) - addressing the balance between the number of teachers being trained and the
number of appropriate placements available for trainee and beginning teachers - ensuring that trainee teachers are accepted into ITE programmes only after being
assessed with a‘disposition to teach’through a formal selection process - strengthening links between trainee and beginning teachers, and teacher edu-
cation providers and schools, by altering the structure of ITE and provisional
registration (Executive Summary, p. 4).
The report argued for increasingflexibility to support, recognise and reward
teaching excellence and educational leadership as well as strengthening profes-
sional leadership across teaching by establishing compulsory training and devel-
opment for aspiring and new principals. More controversially the report introduced
a system of‘distributive leadership within schools’and sought to refocus the
Teachers’Council in order to set clear entry requirements to the profession, develop
continuing professional development and enhance the ethical accountability of
teachers.
The report was soon followed by a Discussion Paper released in June 2010 that
characterized the approach as follows:
The Advisory Group’s vision for the teacher workforce is one where: - high quality, capable people enter the profession
- the best and most capable become leaders in the profession
- ongoing professional learning and development supports effective teaching
1 A Companion to Research in Teacher Education 9