UC welcomes new government investment in teachers
The University of Canterbury (UC) has welcomed the Government’s announcement of more funding for teacher supply and is proud to offer world-class teacher education.
University of Canterbury (UC) Professor Letitia Fickel, who is the Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the College of Education, Health & Human Development, says she is pleased the Education Minister is responding to the national need to prepare the next generation of teachers for Aotearoa New Zealand schools.
As Chair of the New Zealand Council of Deans of Education, Professor Fickel notes that universities together prepare 80% of the primary and secondary teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
“This government support will enable UC to continue strengthening our partnerships with our school colleagues, the New Zealand Teaching Council and the Ministry of Education to collectively ensure we have high quality teachers in every classroom and school,” Professor Fickel says.
“The additional SAC funding for ITE providers will support robust and on-going engagement with our school partners to meet the new Teaching Council requirements, and is a welcome acknowledgement of the complexity of both the teaching profession and the preparation of new teachers.
“Providing direct financial support to future teachers via TeachNZ and iwi-based scholarships, and the voluntary bonding scheme, are key supports and incentives to those who wish to become teachers and have found financial considerations a barrier. Lowering that barrier will support our ongoing goal of recruiting and developing a more diverse teaching profession.
“The full range of initiatives, including support for beginning teacher induction and preparing teachers for bilingual education settings, reflect a much needed systems orientation to the education workforce development needs,” she says.
“I am looking forward to supporting our continuing efforts to develop programmes and initiatives in response to this government scheme.”
UC’s School of Teacher Education offers a wide range of innovative, applied and relevant qualifications for all levels – undergraduate, graduate and master’s qualifications in initial teacher education programmes, and masters and postgraduate qualifications with endorsements in Specialist Teaching, Literacy, Teaching and Learning Languages, and Hoaka Pounamu: Bilingual and Immersion Teaching.
-University of Canterbury
Lisa was born in Auckland at the start of the 1970s, living in a small campsite community on the North Shore called Browns Bay. She spent a significant part of her life with her grandparents, often hanging out at the beaches. Lisa has many happy memories from those days at Browns Bay beach, where fish were plentiful on the point and the ocean was rich in seaweed. She played in the water for hours, going home totally “sun-kissed.” “An adorable time to grow up,” Lisa tells me.
Lisa enjoyed many sports; she was a keen tennis player and netballer, playing in the top teams for her age right up until the family moved to Wellington. Lisa was fifteen years old, which unfortunately marked the end of her sporting career. Local teams were well established in Wellington, and her attention was drawn elsewhere.