All Tamariki and Rangatahi Deserve Qualified Teachers

 As registered and certified teachers we agree with the principles of the Teaching Council that ‘a quality education system requires qualified teaching professionals in every kura, schools and Early Childhood Education (ECE) service’.  

For this reason, we are registering our deep concern with the current proposed change to legislation to allow unqualified, unregistered, and uncertificated individuals to perform the work of teachers in the reintroduced charter school model. 
 

While the Tūranga Whakaako Whai-herenga | Limited Authority to Teach (LAT) has an important role to play in both addressing short term workforce shortages, and in bringing in other specialities that benefit tamariki – we want those teachers to be on a development/career progression path toward teacher education and certification. The LAT should not be used as a legal loophole for teaching in charter schools. 
 

We note the Government’s intention, as currently stated, to allow unqualified, unregistered, and uncertificated individuals working in charter schools to be exempt from the Teaching Council’s competency processes. This sets a dangerous and irresponsible precedent for teaching and presents serious risks not only to the education of ākonga, but to their safety and wellbeing. 
 

We support the work of the Teaching Council | Matatū Aotearoa in advancing the quality of teaching and the professional integrity of teachers in Aotearoa. The use of unqualified, unregistered, and uncertificated individuals to teach in charter schools profoundly undermines teaching as a profession and poses significant risks to the education and wellbeing of ākonga.