Teacher Council struggling says MPs

By HELEN TUNNAH

Problems at the troubled Teacher Council have again been highlighted by an MPs' report which says it is still struggling to do its job.

While Education Minister Trevor Mallard said last night many problems identified at the council had been overcome, Act's education spokeswoman, Deborah Coddington, said it remained a "shambles".

The Teachers Council, the professional body for registered teachers, replaced the Teachers Registration Board in February 2002. It has been beset with difficulties.

Its first chairwoman, Kathie Irwin, was fired by Mr Mallard, even though a report cleared her of "double-dipping" by holding down two tertiary teaching jobs at the same time.

Last year Mr Mallard had to send a Ministry of Education crisis team to help the council clear 12,000 teacher registrations.

Then director Margaret Kouvelis resigned last October, amid speculation she had become the scapegoat for the problems.

She reportedly resigned with a "golden handshake" but council chair Joanna Beresford refused to give the select committee details of any severance deal.

The select committee said some of its MPs were concerned the council had not provided "full and direct" answers about the settlement.

The committee also noted documents sought by the Audit Office were not provided by the council, which had also broken the Public Finance Act by not providing a Statement of Intent for the financial year under review, 2002-2003.

The office noted there was a "lack of robust and detailed analysis of the costs associated with the council's functions and service requirements and the cost of delivering on the council's strategic goals".

There was a lack of a centralised system for producing performance reports, and some documents could not be found.

"Most of us are concerned at the lack of progress made by the council in the 29 months it has been in existence, particularly in its inability to fulfil its core functions of teacher registration and the provision of professional leadership," the cross-party committee's report said.

Mr Mallard said the committee had been reviewing the previous financial year, and there had now been improvements.

He said the backlog of teacher registrations had been cleared, and the council could now focus on professional leadership.

Ms Coddington said she had little faith in the council, and asked why teachers would have any faith in it at all "when it's been a total shambles".

The council told the committee it would have a final code of ethics in place by next year, and that it was ready to register all kura kaupapa teachers by 2006.