Kia ora koutou, ngā mihi nui ki a koutou.
I will not begin by labouring too much about the situation we find ourselves in, suffice to say, we are all too aware of what is happening and its personal and professional consequences for everyone. I will note however that we are reminded daily of the contribution of education and research to society – early childhood centres, kura and schools are essential parts of functioning communities. Teachers it turns out, are very important! Thank you for your professionalism and dedication to student teachers, colleagues in schools, kura, and early childhood education, and each other, at this time.
Recently the TEFANZ Executive met (March 26). In our hui we conferenced with colleagues at the Ministry of Education and the Teaching Council. This newsletter provides an account of hui and other current TEFANZ business.
When we met, it was the beginning of the Level 4 COVID-19 Alert period. A large part of our discussion with MOE and TCNZ recognised that educating student teachers and helping them meet the professional standards with support is a key challenge for teacher education academics to grapple with in 2020. The situation is still changing and no real resolutions yet in sight, but TEFANZ has a role to play in advocacy, communication and support at this time.
Alex (our chair) has been involved with the ITE panel making recommendations to the TCNZ about proposed and actual programme delivery changes. We are communicating with MoE and the Council (see notes of our executive meeting below), advocating for our students and our programmes. We are trying to work out ways to share our ideas to support our national community (see item below). Do let us know (alex.gunn@otago.ac.nz) if you see other opportunities for TEFANZ to be of service during this time.
Kia kaha, kia manawanui koutou
Sharing our Practicum Alternatives
At the moment we are waiting for word from the Teaching Council about any possible changes to requirements surrounding 2020 practicum. Decisions about practicum require TCNZ Board and Ministerial approval. You have been invited to a Dropbox where we can shared ideas and resources relating to designing alternative learning opportunities for practicum. It currently contains the requirements (old and new) for reference. Please contribute if you can, and feel free to use if you need to.
Joint TEFANZ/ATEA conference: University of Auckland, July 8-10 2020
As you know, this conference has been cancelled. All registrants, or people who submitted a paper for the conference will receive a free copy of the conference book – whenever it becomes possible for the ATEA team to send them. Our grateful thanks to all those who were part of the organising committee and to those who submitted abstracts. We had over 120 submissions, from NZ, Australia, the Pacific, Asia and further afield. The quality was high and the research promising.
Strengthening ITE in terms of culturally and linguistically diverse practice
This month we feature four sites to help you or your students develop your te reo Māori:
Toromai:
Tōku Reo
http://www.tokureo.maori.nz/index.html
Maori language commission:
https://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/en/
Myths and legends:
TEFANZ Awards
The TEFANZ Executive determined that awards for 2020 will still be made despite there not being a conference this year. In acknowledgment of the circumstances, the date for nominations has been extended to June 1st. The criteria for the awards can be found on the TEFANZ website. The committee will make its recommendations to the executive on 7 July 2020, and we will incorporate an Awards announcement into the AGM later in the year.
We invite entries for:
The Sustained Excellence in Teacher Education Award and the Emerging Teacher Educator Award.
The first award for sustained excellence is designed to provide recognition for significant contribution over time to teacher education. The second award is to recognise the work of an emerging teacher educator.
The awards which consist of a citation and taonga are open to all teacher educators.
Any two teacher educators from an institution that is a member of TEFANZ may nominate a teacher educator for an award. Nominations should consist of a written statement from each person making the nomination and a copy of the nominee¹s CV. You may include letters of support.
Nominees must be teacher educators from an institution that is a member of TEFANZ.
An award committee comprising the Chair of TEFANZ (or nominee), two other members of TEFANZ, and an external representative (usually a past award winner) will consider the nominations and decide on recipients of the awards.
Please send your nominations for these awards , by email to Bev Norsworthy at (b.norsworthy@bti.ac.nz ) by 1 June 2020, with ‘TEFANZ awards’ in the subject line of the email.
TEFANZ Climate Change and Sustainability Responsiveness Working Party
TEFANZ is seeking people from member organisations to contribute to the new TEFANZ Climate Change and Sustainability Responsiveness Working Party.
The TEFANZ executive has set up a working party to investigate and prepare draft information for membership regarding how TEFANZ can be a climate and sustainability conscious organisation. We are seeking interest in people joining this working party. If you are interested in being on this working party, please contact robin.averill@vuw.ac.nz before 31st May 2020.
Rationale: TEFANZ needs to be a climate conscious organisation. As for all other parts of society, TEFANZ must be proactive regarding minimising the carbon and environmental footprint of our activities, particularly as national and international climate change reduction strategies increase. This means being conscious of and reducing TEFANZ’s carbon and environmental footprint while ensuring TEFANZ continues to meet its aims with integrity.
The working party may consider:
- Factors that contribute to TEFANZ’s climate impact, (e.g., conferences – flights and other transport, travel for location-based executive committee meetings, travel for Chair or Chair’s nominee to represent TEFANZ at professional and policy meetings…)
- Policy for carbon offset for TEFANZ activities, with rationale
- Policy for reduction of the use of non-renewable energy sources, with rationale
- Advice for members about best practice for reducing the climate change impact of their research activities, and, for research reported through TEFANZ outlets, expecting a statement about how sustainable practices were used in carrying out the reported research
- Ideas for forward planning of TEFANZ activities to ensure the aims of TEFANZ can be met
AGM 2020
The AGM for 2020 will be held virtually, using Zoom, with one delegate from each member institution attending. The meeting will be held on July 8th, time to be confirmed.
There will be four places on the TEFANZ executive opening up at the AGM in 2020. Sitting executive members can stand again, but this is an opportunity for people who are interested to put themselves forward. Get in touch with Alex if you would like more information about the commitment and the process. Nominations are taken ‘on the floor’ of AGM and can also be sent in in advance (to Alex at alex.gunn@otago.ac.nz).
Executive Meeting News
At the executive meeting on March 26th, held virtually via Zoom, the following matters were addressed:
- It was decided to keep the membership fees at the current levels
- We will decide at the July meeting what to do about the pattern of forums and conferences into the future. ATEA have their 50th anniversary conference in Sydney next year, so are not interested in a joint conference in 2021. TEFANZ has agreed to pay the costs that had been incurred thus far in preparing the conference, and ATEA will send all registrants and submitters a copy of the conference book. These two commitments are roughly equivalent cost-wise.
- We were ‘visited ‘by Ben O’Meara and Helen Walters to discuss Ministry of Education ‘news’. The key points were discussing how we can get our graduates into a position to take up fully paid teaching roles in 2021 considering the uncertainty around practicum. MoE were attending a multiple-party meeting on the 27th March to discuss solutions and issues around this. There was an awareness of the complexities and a desire to see our students not be disadvantaged in this discussion.
- Noreen Melvin ‘visited’ and we discussed the situation with respect to approvals and practicum. Not much was known at this point – meetings were being held, people were aware of the parameters. The ‘mini panel’ established by the Council was meeting regularly and approving changes to delivery and practicum that were not going to substantially alter the terms of approval (eg: number of days of practicum). Providers were encouraged to use their advisors for support.
- We accepted Tracey Hooker’s resignation from the executive. Tracey has served the TEFANZ organization for a number of years on executive and has been a strong advocate for early childhood and non-university sector ITE in particular. We thank Tracey for her work for us all, and wish her well.
Other Hui:
NZEI
TEFANZ members met with NZEI president, Liam Rutherford, at Education House in March. NZEI will circulate minutes of this hui – as we met just before shut down other matters will have taken priority
PPTA
Our March 27th PPTA hui was cancelled.
Our next executive meeting will be held virtually on July 7th.
Noho ora ra
Fiona (on behalf of the TEFANZ executive).
The newsletter aims to keep our members up to date on TEFANZ activities and the national ITE landscape more generally. It will also be used to advertise opportunities to participate in policy or research activities that are offered to or generated by TEFANZ. We welcome contributions by member organisations who would like to connect with other members through this medium. We hope you find it useful, and are happy to receive feedback (via Fiona Ell, f.ell@auckland.ac.nz).
TEFANZ is a climate conscious organisation. TEANZ strongly encourages purchase of carbon offset for all travel associated with TEFANZ business and events.
Want to find out more about carbon offset?
https://www.orataiao.org.nz/offset_your_emissions
https://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/sustainability-customer-carbon-offset