How does Educanz plan to take the profession down this pathway? How will the board know that those paying for its existence are engaged? Strengthening the notion of the true professional will not come from imposed rules and external codes of conduct but rather from powerful conversations with colleagues and the willingness of all players to become Teachers with a capital "T".
Despite recent reports to the contrary, there are teacher shortages and teachers talking of leaving due to the ever-spiralling complexity and pressure that teaching increasingly requires. Will the new body show some leadership for the wellness of its profession by demanding a stop to the constant and interminable change creating intolerable levels of stress?
There are many more questions to be asked, for example, with more and more expected of teachers, how does the notion of six-week teacher training courses delivering teachers straight into classrooms stack up?
The deep concerns about national standards have not gone away. Principals and teachers continue to be concerned about the curriculum and all involved in teaching recognise that the data in the public achievement information (PAI) reports remain as shonky as John Key first described it.
National Standards need a full, frank and independent review. Will Educanz start this process? It would certainly build confidence in their role of supporting the profession.
Secondary teachers have rejected any involvement with the new entity and spoke out recently about their serious concerns for NCEA. They claim it has become a credit-harvesting process where the critical choices are avoided in favour of easy subjects, and passes. How does this serve our country into the future and what will Educanz do about that?
Educanz's enabling legislation requires a sampled annual auditing of teacher appraisal. For the vast majority of the profession who are performing to a high standard, this will be a meaningless exercise of compliance offering little of value. Poor teachers are seldom discovered through appraisal processes, but through the observations and judgments of team leaders, and feedback from students and parents. Once identified, it is a well-managed guidance and support process that will hold them to account. It is a developmental appraisal process that will grow the capability of the profession, not another audit.
All these matters bring us to the biggest question of all. With all the complexities and these weighty matters for Educanz to resolve, how will the "independent voice" of the profession know that it is on track? What will it do if the message from its stakeholders is "well below the standard?"
The future of Educanz is somewhat fraught. If, as teachers expect, there is a sharp increase in registration fees, if the messages don't accurately reflect the wider professional view, if the conduct processes fail to adhere to the principles of natural justice, then revolt is possible.
And when that happens, there will be those who say, quite loudly and clearly, and with a wee curl of the lip, "I told you so".
Philip Harding is immediate past president of the New Zealand Principals' Federation.
