KEY POINTS:
Final-year education students have spoken out about meeting university course entry requirements, their workloads and passion for the job - following top-level reports questioning the effectiveness of some teacher training.
The School Trustees Association yesterday called for urgent debate and action to lift the overall quality of teaching graduates. It supported change to address "critical issues" amid a teacher shortage.
A parliamentary select committee report released last month and a new Ministry of Education document raised concerns.
The Herald yesterday spoke to seven third-year University of Auckland bachelor of education students.
Education faculty manager Stuart Windross said latest figures showed that of about 1300 applicants to the university's three-year teaching course this year, just over a third - or about 460 - were offered a place.
The student group said even then, some who got over the hurdle but were not committed were "weeded out".
"All the people in the first year, they sit there and put up their hand and say stupid things - they're out," said student Joanna Pearson.
The students were "disappointed" by the reports questioning the competency of some trainee and new teachers.
Some thought beginning teachers were an easy target.
"There's a comment that there was [an incompetent beginning teacher] slipping into a school - one could perhaps question the interview process at the school," said student Terry Robinson.
The university is one of a large number of institutions nationally to offer teacher training programmes.
But School Trustees Association president Lorraine Kerr said yesterday it was hard to escape the conclusion that there was a teacher quality issue among new teachers.
While schools were generally well served by well qualified and competent teachers, she said there was a teacher shortage and boards of trustees had limited options.
"This means employing schools do need assurance that the quality of the recruitment 'pool' is high, if principals and boards are to have the confidence to permanently employ more of these new teachers."
She said questions about the quality of beginning teachers needed urgent debate and actions.
Ms Kerr said the association suggested robust and nationally-consistent teacher trainee selection processes.
The Ministry of Education is drafting recommendations to go to Cabinet after analysis of more than 100 responses to its Becoming a Teacher in the 21st Century document.
Many submitters were concerned about teacher education quality and several wanted more stringent entry criteria.
And last month, a parliamentary select committee inquiry recommended teacher training providers should have to guarantee graduates could manage students effectively in a variety of learning environments. It also suggested only awarding full teacher registration if new teachers had demonstrated they were able to raise their students' achievement.
CLASS OF 2008
The Herald asked third-year University of Auckland bachelor of education students specialising in primary teaching: 1. Why do you want to be a teacher? 2. How have you found the course so far? 3. What is your opinion of recent reports questioning the quality of trainee and new teachers?
NUKU NABETE, 34, ORIGINALLY FROM FIJI
1. "It's rewarding just to see people go through your class. Even though they are all not going to be great initially at whatever they are doing, they are going to be great citizens."
2. "It's definitely not cruisey."
3. "They say that it's been a cruisey-three-years kind of thing, but I think we [know the university] cut off the students in the first year and second year. Not all of us who enrolled have reached the third year."
JOANNA PEARSON, 22, NORTH SHORE
1. "Because learning makes the world go around, and I want to be a part of that. I want to make kids learn and motivate them to learn."
2. "Excellent - I've enjoyed every minute of it and I'm looking forward to starting teaching."
3. "People don't get in [and] people don't get through the first year if they're not good enough."
TERRY ROBINSON, 40-PLUS, PT CHEVALIER
1. "I would like to think I've got something to offer to assist with the achievement of our young people."
2. "It's challenging academically and, I guess, time management-wise. I'm working fulltime and have a family and those sorts of things. It's not an easy course to do."
3. "Like any industry, there are probably good and bad ... There's a comment that there was [an incompetent beginning teacher] slipping into a school - one could perhaps question the interview process at the school."
MICHELLE NEKI, 34, MANGERE BRIDGE
1. "I was always going to be a teacher from 5-years-old. It just took me until I was 34 to do it."
2. "It's bloody hard work, but we are finally in our last year now and can say we're still doing it."
3. "We definitely don't get to cruise on by. The people who couldn't cut the mustard have been weeded out. If you fail a practicum, you don't get to come back."
LAUREN O'KEEFE, 28, MT WELLINGTON
1. "I've always wanted to be a teacher to get into changing lives, basically shaping the future."
2. "The best part is the in-school practicums that we've had, the hands-on experience. But then there's also the lecturers - without their input, we wouldn't be where we are."
3. "Three years is enough time."
ANGELA MILLER, 28, KERIKERI
1. "I'm passionate about education and I think that it's the way forward for our future."
2. "It's a lot of hard work. The best part is probably going out on practicum, which is where I think we are classroom-ready."
3. "It disappoints me because I think that they are giving all of us a bad name as beginning teachers, and I don't think that's fair at all."
JESSICA NEEDLEMAN, 27, ORIGINALLY FROM CANADA
1. "My mum was a teacher and I just kind of always knew in the back of my mind it was something I would probably enjoy as well. I absolutely love kids."
2. "They are doing a really good job of preparing us for what we are actually going to need to do ... It's an academic institution with really rigorous standards - you can't just produce low-quality work and expect to pass."
3. "There's a perception that we don't really know enough or we don't know what we're doing. But I think we have been prepared as far as we possibly can for the job."
