Kia ora koutou, ngā mihi nui ki a koutou.
As we all move back into the mainstream of life it is easy to forget what we, and others in education, have been through this year and what we may yet face. It is also a very busy time for teacher education in Aotearoa as we all work towards approval under the new ITE requirements by the deadline – and start to think about monitoring for approved programmes. In addition, we are still working through programme changes necessitated by COVID-19 restrictions – which for many staff and students are making Semester 2 a high-stakes time.
Do reach out to TEFANZ for support if you need it. We are a strong network of ITE providers, with experience and knowledge that we are happy to share. Get in touch with any executive member, or through the website if there is something you would like to see us do on your behalf, or something we can help you with. Remember that there is a lot of helpful information and shared resources on our website: https://www.tefanz.org.nz/
TEFANZ Research Seminar
The cancellation of our conference in July means that we have not had a chance to share our research work and innovations with each other in 2020. To provide an opportunity for this, TEFANZ will host a research seminar, online, on November 19th 2020. An invitation to present will be sent to you by the end of August – please share this with members of your institution. We will also advertise the opportunity through our website. The aim is to offer a keynote presentation and then a series of shorter sessions where participants can hear from a range of presenters and engage in dialogue with them via Zoom.
Shaping ITE to more adequately address obligations within Māori and Pasifika education
In each newsletter we highlight resources or events that can help ITE providers respond to Māori and Pasifika people in ITE.
Below are links to newly published Ministry of Education resources that underpin our work, and the work of the education sector: the new Māori education strategy and the Pasifika Education Plan. Both of these are central to our work and the work of our student teachers.
This publication, on Education Counts, reviews evidence about teaching Pacific learners, and could be helpful for staff or students to consider:
This evaluation of Māori and Pacific families’ experiences of learning at home has some interesting insights for teachers at all levels:
TEFANZ Annual Meeting Online
This year’s TEFANZ Annual Meeting was held on July 8th and was online for the first time. The meeting was well attended, thank you all. The Chair’s Report can be accessed on the website.
Constitution
At the 2019 Annual Meeting we voted for changes to the constitution. At this meeting we approved the 2019 minutes, which allows us to lodge the new constitution with the Incorporated Societies office. We are now operating under the 2019 constitution, which can be found on the website.
Accounts and fees
A considerable amount of work has been done, largely by Bev Cooper, to establish standalone accounts. Previously, the TEFANZ accounts were operated by the institution of the Chair, but this had become unworkable. Being an incorporated society meant we could operate our own financial accounts. The Annual Meeting voted no change to membership fees for 2020-2021.
Carbon Offset and Sustainability
TEFANZ has adopted a statement encouraging carbon offset for any TEFANZ-related travel and is establishing a group to develop a policy for our organisation. Robin Averill will lead this effort. Others are welcome to join her (contact Robin directly, or an executive member).
Farewell to Executive Members
The outgoing executive was farewelled and thanked by Alex Gunn on behalf of TEFANZ. Tracey Hooker, Sally Hansen, Bev Norsworthy, Robin Averill and Misty Sato did not stand again in the election, and were recognised for their considerable service to TEFANZ and teacher education in Aotearoa.
TEFANZ Executive Election Results – and introducing the new executive
One of the key tasks of the AGM was to elect a new executive. Thank you to all those who put themselves forward for election – we had an exciting field of candidates representing the diversity of provider types and education sectors in Aotearoa. The constitution calls for six standing members, who can second up to three additional members. The executive members who were successful at the election were: Bev Cooper, Eunice Price, Emily Nelson, Rosina Merry and Fiona Ell. Alex Gunn’s term was not up at this annual meeting, so she remains part of the leadership group. The executive has seconded Hiria McRae and Steven Sexton for a two-year period. This leaves one secondment position for a representative of a provider who might be involved with organising a forum or conference and not be represented on executive at the moment.
Brief biographies of the new executive can be found below:
Ko Rosina Merry tōku ingoa.
Kaitohu Akoranga-Director Teaching and Learning toku mahi.
I am the Director of Teaching and Learning for Te Rito Maioha ECNZ, in
Whanganui-a-Tara. I have the overall responsibility for the oversight and
management of academic strategy (for undergraduate and graduate programmes) and manage the quality, compliance and national consistency of learning and teaching delivery of ECNZ’s qualifications.
Alex Gunn works at the University of Otago and has been working within
pre-service teacher education since the mid-1990s. An early childhood
teacher by profession, Alex has wide ranging interests in education across all
sectors, in policy, and research. She joined the TEFANZ executive in 2014
and has held the role of Chair since 2020.
Steven Sexton is currently the Primary Programme
Coordinator here at the University of Otago’s College of Education (UOCE). He is a primary-trained teacher who has taught in Japan, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Australia, and New Zealand. He has been here at UOCE since 2010 and has research interests in science education, primary education, and
heteronormativity in schools.
Dr Eunice Gaerlan-Price is the head of the Bachelor of Education
(Primary) programme at Laidlaw College. Her educational background
includes extensive experience teaching and leading learning at the
primary level in various Auckland primary schools and colleges. Having just completed doctoral studies, her research interests include gender (girlhood studies), gifted and talented education, social media, and critical theories of education.
Dr Hiria McRae (Ngāti Whakaue, Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu) is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education, Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington.
She has extensive experience in working with practicing teachers and teaching postgraduate students and teacher candidates in the areas of mātauranga Māori, te reo Māori, science and technology, critical pedagogies, education for sustainability.
Past research projects have included iwi exploration of Māori student success, digital devices to connect home and school learning in low socio-economic communities and Māori community based science programmes.
Current projects include the development of an iwi strategy for Ngāti Whakaue; a Marsden funded project exploring difficult histories with diverse Māori communities; culturally responsive and sustaining initial teacher education; recruitment and retention of Māori and Pacific Island teacher trainees; and the development of te ao Māori applications to engage Māori students with computer science.
Beverley Cooper (University of Waikato) was elected to the TEFANZ Executive in 2009 and was president from 2014 to 2019. Bev has held a number of significant leadership roles in ITE both within her university and nationally. She is also an active researcher of ITE, known both nationally and internationally for her work. She has represented TEFANZ on a wide range of national committees, including: Teaching Council’s Initial Teacher Education Advisory Group (ITEAG); the Education Council Standards working Group; the Education Council’s Stakeholders Advisory Group on strategic options for developing future orientated initial teacher education; PPTA working group on ITE practicum; PPTA Teacher Education Advisory group; NZEI Advisory
Group. She is the current recipient of the TEFANZ Sustained Excellence in Teacher Education award.
Fiona Ell is Head of ITE at the University of Auckland. A primary school teacher, Fiona is interested in mathematics education, practicum and how new understandings, ideas and attitudes are developed and adopted by teachers and student teachers in their practice.
Emily Nelson works at EIT where she coordinates the
Bachelor of Teaching (Primary) Programme and teaches on the Masters of Professional Practice degree. With 30 years’ experience in the primary teaching sector, Emily’s research
is concerned with student voice, teachers’ learning, and the implications of Innovative Learning Environments for initial teacher
education.
TEFANZ Awards
Our TEFANZ awards were presented at the virtual Annual Meeting: not quite the same as a celebratory dinner, but we felt it was important to acknowledge our award winners in a timely way. The Emerging Teacher Educator Award went to Elizabeth Reinsfield of Waikato University. The Sustained Excellence in Teacher Education Award went to Bev Cooper, also of Waikato University. Congratulations to you both. You can read the citations for these awards on our website – they are inspiring!
Executive Meeting News
The executive has met twice since our last newsletter: on July 7th, via Zoom, on the eve of the AGM, and on July 29th. The July 29th meeting was called for the new executive to meet each other, and to discuss secondments to the executive from the wonderful group of colleagues who put themselves forward for election at the AGM and to elect the Chair. Being able to meet via Zoom means that we can meet more frequently and with less environmental and financial impact, so this additional meeting to finalise the executive seemed like a good idea!
Points to note from these meetings:
- Alex Gunn has been re-elected as Chair of TEFANZ until the next AGM in 2022
- We made two secondments to executive (see above)
- We will run a one-day forum in 2021 and a conference internal to NZ in 2022 (ATEA are having their 50th anniversary conference in Sydney that year). In the future we might consider another joint conference.
- We will organize a virtual event for November 2020 where people can present material they were unable to present at our cancelled July conference (see notice in this newsletter).
- Rosina will work with Robin Averill on the carbon offset policy for TEFANZ
- We appointed Bev Cooper as the Treasurer, a role we have not had previously
- Our next meeting will be October 15th via Zoom, and we will invite MoE, NZTC and Normal School representatives to join us virtually
Other Hui:
The status of our meetings with PPTA and NZEI is unknown at the moment. PPTA have surveyed attendees about their preferences for meeting format (virtual or face to face) but a decision has not been communicated yet. We will make contact with NZEI shortly to discuss how we might proceed with them.
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