Anne Tolley

4 October, 2011

Further support for secondary teachers

Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced four further support days for secondary school teachers, as they implement the new curriculum-aligned achievement standards for NCEA Levels one, two and three over the next two years.

Two teacher-only professional development days will be provided to schools in 2012, with two further teacher-only days available in 2013. These are in addition to the two professional support days which have already been announced for 2011.

�This follows recommendations from a working group which I set up, involving PPTA, the Secondary Principals� Association (SPANZ), NZQA and the Ministry, to address any issues around teacher workload as the standards continue to be phased-in,� says Mrs Tolley.

�The curriculum changes and subsequent changes to assessment standards are critically important, and these additional support days will allow teachers to access professional development to help build their capability.

�Schools will now be able to give parents and students plenty of notice about the teacher-only days, and plan their professional development for 2012 and 2013 well in advance.

�The support days are part of a package to help schools and teachers, and more details of this will be announced soon.�

The teacher-only days are optional and dates will be decided by individual schools.