Effective Teaching

It is UnitedFuture policy to:

• Encourage more men to join the teaching profession at all levels.
• Ensure that entry requirements to teacher education are rigorous.
• Ensure that student teachers develop both the competencies and the disposition to work with children and young people and those non-performing student teachers are identified and if necessary failed.
• Clarify the protocols available to Principals for removing an incompetent teacher.
• Require schools to explain to parents how progress is measured, how often and for what purpose.
• Increase the amount of time student teachers spend in school-based placements.
• Focus on improving working conditions that contribute to the decision teachers make to leave the profession like workload and student behaviour.
• Support a review of teacher pay rates so that they are more internationally competitive.
• Strengthen current professional development priorities specifically in assessment practice, classroom management, subject expertise, meeting the needs of disabled students and the ongoing roll out of Te Kötahitanga.
• Ensure that support for newly qualified teachers across all sectors is consistent and of a high standard.
• Support the inclusion of teacher trainees in a bonding scheme to reduce student loan debt for those who are qualified in fields facing shortages, in return for a continuous period of work in New Zealand after graduation.
• Support the call from Principals for the Teachers Council to deal with disciplinary matters in a more transparent manner.