ITI Articles

New Zealand Tertiary College was successful in its application for reinvestment funding for their Diploma of Teaching Early Childhood Education (Level 7). PTE Reinvestment applications are based on need, graduate outcomes, performance and participation, and point of difference. ITI expects that overall reinvestment results will be released shortly.

NZTC Business Operations Manager, James Ward says that NZTC did well in graduate outcomes and performance in an industry where the need for qualified teachers is great.  NZTC’s excellent graduate outcomes are related to the fact that students must be working in childcare while they are completing their qualification. “100% of our students are working in the industry when they graduate… it creates a natural relationship between industry and the qualification.”

NZTC’s high completion rates of over 80% mean that NZTC is contributing positively to a sector where there is a current staff shortage.

Mr Ward says that the Government’s mandate that teachers be fully registered by 2012 has created industry support for programmes that lead to teacher registration. “The support from industry has been tremendous. Our Advisory Board, which has a number of directors of early childhood centres, and the Early Childhood Council provided clear support for NZTC. We received letters from individual centres who have either had our students doing field practice with them, or who had teachers working there who had come through our programme.”

Sue Thorne, CEO of the Early Childhood Council agrees: "Private training providers make a major contribution to the pool of qualified teachers in the early childhood sector. The ECE sector is being required by Government to move to a fully qualified workforce by 2012 and is already facing significant teacher shortages as well as recruitment and retention difficulties. It is imperative that all those who wish to train for early childhood teaching are able to do so at the institution of their choice. We are delighted with the success of the NZ Tertiary College in gaining additional funded student places through the reinvestment round. NZTC graduates are highly sought after by ECE employers for their combination of academic ability and practical application. These additional places will go some way to alleviating the severe skill shortage we are experiencing in our sector."

NZTC received the full reinvestment amount of $250,000 and will be able to take an extra 35 funded students.