No "forced" year for teacher trainees

Education Minister Chris Carter says he is concerned over a story in today’s Herald on trainee teachers that is quite simply wrong.

In today’s edition, the newspaper claims trainee teachers will be “forced” into an extra year of on-the-job training in a proposal going to Cabinet this month.

“The Herald’s assertion that a Cabinet paper with such a recommendation has been written and will go before Cabinet this month is quite simply not correct,” Chris Carter said.
The Ministry of Education is currently preparing a report for the Minister of Education as a result of feedback on the discussion document, Becoming a teacher in the 21st century.
This report will include recommendations to take to Cabinet, based on the proposals in the discussion document but the Ministry's advice is not yet complete.

The previous Minister of Education Steve Maharey requested a review of initial teacher education and the report that stemmed from that review, Becoming a Teacher in the 21st Century, was released for discussion and feedback.

“The story is basically a cut and paste of that feedback from the Ministry’s website so how it was deemed to be a front page “exclusive” is a mystery,” Mr Carter said.

The Labour-led government was committed to ensuring trainee teachers met high standards, the reason for the initial teacher education review.

The new Graduating Teacher Standards, developed by the Teachers Council, outline the standards that all graduates must meet from 2008.

They describe what a teacher, at the point of graduation from an initial teacher education programme, will know, understand and be able to do. The standards have three groupings, professional knowledge, professional standards, and professional values and relationships.

“Experience is valued in all professions and teaching is no different but there is certainly a place for younger, less experienced people who are entering a new career and bringing all the enthusiasm that goes with that,” Chris Carter said.