KEY POINTS:
Teachers will have to be "committed members of the profession" and "know what to teach" before they hit the classroom under new national standards released yesterday.
But industry figures say the environment new teachers face once they arrive at schools needs addressing.
Teachers Council director Peter Lind said
the standards aimed to ensure a consistent quality of graduating teachers.
They were the first of their type in New Zealand, he said, and formalised current practice at tertiary institutions.
The standards covered professional knowledge, practice, values and relationships skills that teachers needed as they entered the job.
Key among them was proving they had appropriate knowledge in the subjects they wanted to teach and understood theories on how pupils learn best.
Dr Lind said although they were similar to standards developed in Australia and elsewhere, they recognised the Treaty of Waitangi and required teachers to use Maori language and customs appropriately.
He said they would be policed from January by a panel that assesses teacher education providers.
The council also had a three-stage project under way to examine the transition of new teachers into the teaching profession.
John Langley, dean of the University of Auckland faculty of education, said the detail about the "appropriate" use of Maori was obscure and providers and the council would need to work through it.
Dr Langley said the induction of graduates into the profession once they left training providers and were in schools varied considerably and needed attention.
An Education Review Office report in 2004 found new teachers often faced little job stability and a lack of support and were untrained to deal with diverse classes.
Post Primary Teachers Association president Robin Duff said hardly any money was available to support new teachers and help was "uneven and erratic".
New Zealand Educational Institute president Irene Cooper said student teachers expressed concern about inconsistencies in the quality of study programmes.
"They will welcome the requirement that teacher education providers will have to ensure that their programmes meet the new standards." She said primary school principals also noticed a wide variation in the quality of newly qualified teachers.
New Standards
Graduating teachers will have to:
* Know what to teach.
* Know about learners and how they learn.
* Understand how contextual factors - including personal, social and cultural - influence teaching and learning.
* Use professional knowledge to plan for a safe, high-quality teaching and learning environment.
* Use evidence to promote learning.
* Develop positive relationships with learners and the members of learning communities.
* Be committed members of the profession.
Source: Teachers Council's Graduating Teacher Standards
