Teacher shocked at NZ's 5000 unauthorised teachers

A teacher says she is shocked to hear there are more than 5000 unauthorised teachers working across the country, and has questioned the capabilities of the Teachers Council.

A part-time teacher with provisional registration, who does not wish to be named, said that under new requirements she would have to undergo a Teacher Education Refresher course to retain her registration.

She said this would cost her somewhere in the region of $8500 every six years and is concerned it will force her out of teaching.

She said she wrote a letter of complaint to Rob McIntosh, the acting director of the Teachers Council in November, and was told she could expect a reply within 20 working days. She has still not heard back.

"When I see there are 5000 unauthorised teachers I realise for him [Rob McIntosh] to reply to my email is the least of his worries.

Statistics released from the organisation's annual report showed that more than 5000 teachers working in schools across the country in the past year were unauthorised, while another 400 did not appear on any Teachers Council records.

The Teachers Council discovered the discrepancy by matching its own records against the Ministry of Education's payroll information.

"I've got a perfectly legitimate query about provisional registration and at 20 working days... is that what we expect from our public service," she said.

She said it was totally unacceptable.

"The fact that he can't reply within 20 days to me indicates that there is a hell of a s*** fight going on and when you see there are 5000 unauthorised teachers you realise they have got a massive mess to clean up.

"Forget about the provisionally registered ones like me, what about all the 5000 unauthorised."

A Teachers Council spokeswoman said they would welcome a call from the teacher.

"We don't want any teacher to be unhappy with our processes."

She said the council had a responsibility to ensure that only teachers who meet a standard for registration are able to remain in the profession.

The Teacher Education Refresh programme was a new requirement that had been put in place, she said.

It ensured that teachers who had remained provisionally registered for six or more years still had current qualifications, experience and were skilled enough to remain in the work force.

She said the 5000 or so unauthorised teachers did not reflect poorly on capabilities of the Teachers Council, and that most of these registrations had lapsed for simple reasons.

"It shows we are doing everything we need to be doing to ensure only registered teachers remain in the profession."