Fast-tracked teachers ready to teach course’s critics a lesson
THE FIRST trainee teachers from a controversial programme criticised as a ‘‘crash-course into the classroom’’ will start work next month.
The eight- week course was rolled out by the Education Ministry to get teachers into secondary schools in poor Northland and Auckland areas where schools cannot attract enough staff.
It was criticised by New Zealand Education Institute president Ian Leckie, who said it undermined other teacher education programmes and the quality of teachers was questionable because students don’t get enough practical experience. The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association also opposed the scheme.
Matthew Dadley and Antonia McBryde, who are among the first 16 to complete the course, reject criticism they are ill-prepared for the classroom.
Both are about to start a twoyear paid placement as teachers, Dadley to Mangere College to teach English and McBride to Whangarei’s Tikipunga High School to teach te reo Maori.
Becoming a teacher was always on Dadley’s agenda but the chance to train while getting paid was the clincher.
He already has a Bachelor of Arts with first-class honours in political studies and Japanese, and has taught in Japan.
‘‘It is a drawcard that I’m able to enter the profession earlier . . . but I do feel we have been very well prepared for that,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a bit of a hurdle to keep taking years
I realised I can do it, I can be effective and I’ve been given all the tools. Antonia McBride
and
redirect out of employment yourself.
‘‘I know from my experience in employment and the workforce that so much of the critical learning is done on the job and any sort of teacher will say that about teaching as they will for any kind of profession.’’
McBryde was impressed by the programme.
She has a Bachelor of Arts in Samoan and Te Reo Maori studies with honours in Pacific studies, and has Samoa.
‘‘I was going to enter training this year but then I saw a poster for this programme and it looked amazing,’’ she said, adding it fit her belief system of tackling inequality and working out why students don’t seem to be achieving. ‘‘But then it went beyond that, it had an X-factor which was the
been
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in leadership component.’’
The trainee teachers have already tutored a class of secondary pupils, an experience they described as a real confidence boost.
‘‘For me it was a big goal and last week I realised I can do it, I can be effective and I’ve been given all the tools,’’ McBryde said.
‘‘The learning we’ve been doing intensively over the last month all came together, it wasn’t perfect there is always room for improve- ment but that is the same with any profession.’’
Based on award-winning international models, the Teach First NZ programme has been funded for four years by the Education Ministry.
Up to 20 post-graduate students will be chosen each year – the first intake had 270 vying for a slot. The programme is run in collaboration with Auckland University.
Teach First NZ chief executive Sean Sutton, who undertook a similar programme in the United Kingdom, has high expectations for the first cohort, and will next month open applications for the programme’s second round.
‘‘We recruit early because many of the top businesses in New Zealand recruit very early in the year which is one of the reasons the top graduates get snapped up so we want to be out there with all the rest of the more attractive places to work.’’
Sutton said the programme addressed a gap in the teacher training system. ‘‘In New Zealand the teaching workforce is relatively homogeneous and not representative of the school students they serve,’’ he said.
‘‘One of the aims of Teach First NZ is to attract more males, more Maori, more Pasifika teachers and traditionally those groups haven’t been attracted to teaching.’’
NZEI president Ian Leckie publicly opposed the scheme last year because it undermined other teacher education programmes and the quality of teachers needed in low decile schools.
‘‘Being a top graduate
doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to be a good teacher,’’ he said.
‘‘ Trainee teachers in proper teacher education spend large blocks of practicum time in classes where they gain invaluable teaching experience.
‘‘ These fast- track programmes won’t even touch the sides, particularly as they’ll be held over summer when there are no chil- dren in schools to teach.’’
The PPTA also opposed the scheme and assigned Western Australia’s Murdoch University to research fast-track teacher training schemes after member complaints.
Researchers found mixed and insufficient evidence to conclude Teach First teachers were less effective than traditionallyprepared teachers.