Awards can help teachers continue to learn, writes David Maida
Teachers in New Zealand have access to $39 million in sabbaticals, study awards and study leave positions each year. The Ministry of Education gives out the awards to more than 900 teachers annually.
Robyn Roa, principal at Ngaruawahia High School in Waikato, was one of the lucky ones. She won the Secondary Teachers Study Leave Award which gave her a year-long sabbatical to allow her to complete her thesis and masters degree.
"It was just timely because all I needed was a year to complete it and it gave me an opportunity to do the study and I did it within my own school," Roa says.
The Secondary Teachers Study Leave Award is one of a multitude of teacher awards and is given to 75 secondary teachers in state or state-integrated schools who are a part of the Secondary Teachers' Collective Agreement. The Ministry pays the schools to provide for relief teachers while the teacher is studying.
"For me it was an acknowledgement of the work I had put into teaching. I appreciated it and it gave me those opportunities you don't have when you're working full-time in a school."
Without the award, Roa says she would have had to give up teaching for one or two years to complete her studies. Teachers who already have study projects under way are more likely to receive the awards to allow them to finish.
"It wasn't the start of a project, it was more the ending of it. It was a really nice way to end it."
But there was more to Roa's award than just being able to complete her studies.
"It's very, very important in that it facilitates for teachers to step aside from the role of teaching in the day-in-day-out kind of thing and be able to reflect. It's an opportunity to reflect on your own practice and look, research and review other theories. Taking that time out was absolutely invaluable."
Roa studied indigenous education in other countries and in other areas of New Zealand. But these awards are highly contested. More than 1200 teachers and principals have already applied for the 2010 awards. Roa says one thing will help put you onto the short list.
"I think it's absolutely important that when they apply they give of their hearts because in this job, that's what you need. You've got to be absolutely passionate about kids. You've got to show that passion through your application and express the things that you do over and above."
Other awards include various scholarships and fellowships, some of which are memorial scholarships. All the teacher awards are administered by various institutions, trusts and organisations. But they are all under the umbrella of the Ministry of Education.
Fiona McTavish, group manager education workforce for the ministry, says the awards help to keep teachers working in the classroom longer by allowing them not to have to resign from their posts to continue their education.
"These awards and sabbaticals are highly valued and heavily subscribed by teachers and principles," McTavish says.
The ministry offers 12 different types of awards. Details are available on their website under "Professional Learning for Teachers".
"Of the awards and sabbaticals available, 518 provide support for an area of study that is determined by the teacher or principal and a further 382 focus on specialist subjects or skills such as te reo Maori, reading recovery, guidance counselling, the teaching of English as a second language and special education."
The awards have a diverse and varied history.
"Some were developed as part of education sector collective agreement settlements, some are developed and managed by the Ministry of Education and others are administered in association with third party agencies."
Those awards developed through a collective agreement are administered through the Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA).
PPTA awards are given to primary teachers, area school teachers and secondary teachers. Advisory officer Marion Norton says it's important that ministry funding for relief teachers puts all schools on a level playing field.
"If it was up to schools, some schools couldn't afford to do it and others could. Therefore, some teachers would be advantaged and others disadvantaged. This way, central funding of the relief for all of these means that all teachers have equal opportunity in terms of applying for them," Norton says.
Teachers have fought long and hard to lobby the ministry to fund these PPTA awards.
"Over the years, teachers have wanted these things and they've been bargaining and through the collective agreement they've got these in as terms of employment."
Only senior teachers need apply for the sabbatical leave awards. These are meant to give teachers a term off for a well-deserved break. Teachers use half their time off doing some type of professional learning or research and the other half simply for rest and rejuvenation.
"Sabbaticals tend to be given to teachers that have been in the system a long time and in a sense are more deserving of a break."
Norton says that teachers need to have about 20 years' service before they are considered for a sabbatical award. For the study awards, teachers should have at least five years' service.
"There is an approach with these awards that you're in the system and you've got to be in for a while to really be deserving and get one of these because there are not many of them."
With an estimated 20,000 teachers in New Zealand, competition for awards is tough. There are 75 study leave awards, 100 study support grants and 40 sabbatical leave awards that the PPTA administers each year.
Many other types of teacher awards are administered by organisations such as the Royal Society, the British Council and the National Association of Secondary Deputy and Assistant Principals (NASDAP).
Some awards, such as the Edna Joyce Howe Scholarship, are administered privately but details on all of them can be found on the Ministry of Education website.
"The benefits of these rewards - all of them give teachers a space in their lives to be able to concentrate and reflect on bigger picture stuff."
The costs of the awards are counted in terms of the time required to hire a relief teacher which is measured in Fulltime Teaching Equivalent (FTTE). For example, the Study Support Grant gives an allowance of 0.16 FTTE which is about four hours a week.
The awards which PPTA oversees amount to about 100 FTTE per year. But Norton says that's a small price to pay to incentivise those 20,000 teachers.
Some awards will contribute $500 towards course fees upon completion but others do not. Teachers often find it difficult to continue with their own studies while teaching fulltime.
The awards are meant to take some of that pressure off them. Norton says she does not know of any study programmes which let teachers study during their holiday break and that time is needed to recuperate.
"If you've taught 40 weeks of the year in a secondary school then you actually need some break."
Although the awards are significant, Norton says they might not be CV material.
"Study Awards and Study Support Grants lead to completing qualifications and usually on CVs the actual qualification would count more than how you did it."
The qualifications must also be practical. Applying for an award is more than just filling out a form. Teachers must come up with a study proposal which will benefit them in their teaching job.
"An opportunity to do some more study in a specialist area is really important to a lot of teachers. There is a lot more focus by teachers on the actual processes of teaching and learning - pedagogy."
Norton says teachers also need sign-off from their head of department. "We have known some hiccups but usually there are a few telephone conversations and it gets sorted."
Teachers are more likely to be granted an award if they have some track record in advanced learning.
"Frequently one of the priorities for these awards is people who have already demonstrated some willingness to get into some higher level study."
The teachers' proposals are judged by a panel comprised of someone from the PPTA, the Ministry of Education and someone from the School Trustees Association.
Contact David Maida at: www.DavidMaida.com
