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Ngā mihi nui ki a koe,

Ehara taku toa I te toa takitahi 
Engari he toa takitini

It's hard to believe we're well into August, the year’s flying by, although I think we're still waiting for winter to really kick in.

Things have been very busy at the Council over the last month and we have lots to share with you, including a refresh of our newsletter. You'll notice the clickable table of contents, making it easier to access the articles and information you're really interested in. We’ve added some new sections, including ‘From the Archives’ about teaching in Aotearoa. 

In the last fortnight we welcomed the Teaching Council Board, some new and some returning to continue the good work they started. This edition of the newsletter has a fantastic Q&A with your new Board Chair Nicola Ngarewa.
I was asked, on behalf of the Council, to speak at the opening of the NASDAP conference last week, it was a great chance to see so many Deputy and Assistant Principals. It looks like a great conference and we look forward to hearing how it went.
Online services - Hapori Matatū is currently being tested. This exciting new development will allow teachers to apply and renew their practising certificate online and follow the progress of their applications. It also provides an online portal for teachers to meet and discuss topics of interest. This will be your space, and we'll be encouraging you to go online and have a look around. Please read the Hapori Matatū section below, to get up to speed.

We hope you enjoy this newsletter refresh!

Ngā mihi,
Lesley,
Interim CE
Nau mai! Welcome! 
The new Teaching Council Board was welcomed into their role on Thursday 25th July. There was a moving pōwhiri and shared kai with Teaching Council staff. The new board were able to meet each other were able to start meeting with the various business teams. 

A big thank you to manuhiri from Te Āti Awa and Ngāti Toa Rangatira, who are the mana whenua within Te Whanganui a Tara, and members of fellow education agencies for coming along to show respect and celebrate the new board.

It is an exciting time as we embark on this new chapter of the Council and it was great getting to kōrero with the new members leading us. 

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Tapasa Video Resources
More video resources for deeper understanding of Tapasā are now available on the website, click here to see them. 

Teachers unpack Tapasā in workshops in Lower Hutt and Christchurch. Through the workshops teachers have unpacked the three Turu and took away ideas of how to meaningfully incorporate Pacific identity and culture into their teaching. Click here to find out more.

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What teachers are saying about Tapasa!
"Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand these resources are GOLD!! great for supporting deeper understanding of the Tapasa framework in realities of daily living in and out of the class room. Love how this is inclusive of ECE voice in your recording. I am sure this will be a great support to the teachers I am mentoring who will all have opportunity to engage with these resources. Have been asking for something like this for Tapasa. Thank you! Great to see the follow through.” - Tapasa user
Hapori Matatu | Online Community - Important Reading!
Testing Hapori Matatū with our members! So far so good!
Two key projects that we so excited to update you on are:
  • a new online services system - Hapori Matatū | Online Community; and 
  • the new Teaching Council Policy: ‘Teacher Registration, Practising Certificates and Limited Authority to Teach’.
A priority for the Teaching Council is improving our core business processes so we can effectively provide leadership and direction to the teaching profession, support knowledgeable and capable teachers and allow information to be shared securely.

Teachers are at the heart of everything we do, and our new online services, coming soon, will help teachers to do their jobs more easily and effectively.

What is Hapori Matatū?
It’s the ‘digital front-door’ that will allow teachers to access all online services and renew certification online.  This is a safe, secure and professional space for teachers and professional leaders.  

New policy in progress: ‘Teacher Registration, Practising Certificates and Limited Authority to Teach’
Yes, we’ve been working on a new policy: ‘Teacher Registration, Practising Certificates and Limited Authority to Teach’.  

Please read more about both of these important developments by Pdf by clicking here.
Or read them on the website by clicking here.

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Police Vetting Information
Police vetting: All Council police vetting requests are now being processed as standard requests – which means they can take 20 days or more. What does this mean for you? Get your practicing certificate renewal applications in as early as possible! Better yet – do it online. Read more here.

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Legal & Governance Essentials for School Leaders
Council staff Leith and Malcolm presented at the Legal and Governance Essentials for School Leaders conference in Christchurch. It was invaluable to talk with principals and deputy principals about competence and mandatory reporting and answer questions.

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Q&A with your new Board Chair
Nicola Ngarewa is a disrupter of educational norms. She sees the challenges in teaching as opportunities. She is a brave and caring leader. Meet your new Teaching Council Board Chair...
Whaea Nicola’s optimism for teaching and young people is contagious. She followed both her parents into teaching and her career spans more than 20 years in all sectors – from early childhood through to tertiary. Taranaki proud, she has dedicated the last five years of her career to turning the status quo of learning on its head in her hometown Pātea and now at Spotswood College in New Plymouth.
Q: How did you get into teaching?
Nicola: Born and bred in the metropolis of Pātea, I affiliate to Ngāti Ruanui, Nga Rauru. My parents both retrained to be teachers after the closure of the Pātea Freezing Works. My father became a secondary teacher and my mother eventually became the principal of the school where she started out as the cleaner. So, it was a very natural progression for me to  train to be a teacher, but I found my real passion for teaching while working in the NZ prison system alongside young males who were not devious, they simply were not given the same cultural and educational opportunities that I had been given in life.

Q: What influenced your decision to continue as a member of the Teaching Council Board and indeed, take on the chairperson role?
Nicola: This was a decision that I really reflected on before deciding to continue as a member of the Council board and become the chair. Ultimately, I kept coming back to the fact that I believe the Council is so well positioned to be progressive, agile and responsive to the needs of the profession and to continue to uplift the mana of the profession. They are strong attributes and values that I also respect; to be able to offer my support in any shape or form felt like the right thing to do. Accepting the chair role was admittedly initially very daunting, but a great friend of mine reminded me that you cannot say you believe in diversity, challenging perceptions of leadership and always aiming to live outside of your comfort zone without actioning it.

Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
Nicola: Throughout my teaching career I have been known as Whaea Nicola which roughly translates into ‘Aunty’. I like to think that this title is reflected in my leadership style: a person who cares first and foremost, and then whose job it is to bring the team together by working on each person’s strength, so that together we can be brave and bold and change lives.

Q: What do you love about being a teacher and a member of the profession?
Nicola: You get to work alongside the amazing youth and educators in our country to connect, strengthen and inspire each other to build a better world for tomorrow. Some days there are big life changing moments, but most days it’s just simple things that combined together create magic in the lives of students and educators.

Q: What are some of the challenges you see teachers facing right now and what opportunities are there for the Council to help overcome those challenges?
Nicola: Attracting the top graduates of schools/university to the profession and retaining them. Ensuring all educators have a personal leadership pathway so that they are supported to grow and develop through a multitude of pathways within the profession.

Q: You have turned around school performance at Tamatea High School, Patea Area School and are currently implementing a futuristic/innovative learning approach at Spotswood College, how will these experiences contribute to your role as Board Chair? 
Nicola: They have taught me that leadership is always about the team, not the individual, that everyone needs to be clear on the WHY and the sense of urgency around this, that we need to be have the mindset of turning challenges into opportunities, be able to be agile and responsive, be brave and bold and remember that the students that we get to work alongside every day are not one in a million they are once in a lifetime!

Q: What do your weekends look like?
Nicola: I live in Taranaki with my partner in crime, who is also a teacher, Wayne Cribb. We have two girls – Karena, 20 and Maruata, 17 (a year 13 at Spotswood College). We’re surrounded by our extended whānau, including school whānau, so weekends are full of getting along to support young people at sporting or other events – always with good food and good fun! I always say if you don't laugh out loud at least once a day then you need to change something until you do!

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From the Archives
In our first edition of 'From the Archives', we'd like to share the history of the school journal. The first journal came out in 1907 it was a free publication containing information on history, geography and civics. This was a cheaper option than publishing several separate textbooks. It's now believed to be the longest running serial publication for children.

Many of New Zealand’s foremost authors and illustrators have had their work published in the School Journal, including Rita Angus, James K. Baxter, Alistair Campbell, Russell Clark, Jack Lasenby and E. Mervyn Taylor.

To find out more watch the brief video below.

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