New Zealand Registration 

Are you a beginning teacher? Check out how to do a year of your New Zealand teacher registration in an overseas school.

Can I go overseas and still qualify as a New Zealand teacher?

If you are a provisionally registered teacher in New Zealand, up to one year of your overseas teaching may count towards the two year period of your advice and guidance programme. This is dependent on meeting a number of criteria. You must:

be employed in a teaching position for at least 0.5 (half) of a full time position which equates to 12.5 hours per week full control.

complete an advice and guidance programme under the supervision of a fully registered teacher. Your supervising teacher must be fully registered for the whole period of your provisional registration.

be employed as a teacher in the general education system or at an approved institution.

demonstrate satisfactory performance in each of the Satisfactory Teacher Dimensions.

hold a current Practising Certificate.

As long as your teaching is in the general education system of the UK and you can produce documented evidence of the advice and guidance programme you were involved in you can obtain NZ registration. The evidence you need to provide could include a letter from the school you were working in stating you have completed an advice and guidance programme to a satisfactory standard. You should also submit all documents collected over the year including professional development hand outs, goals that have been set and then reflected on, and any observations of your lessons completed by your supervising teacher or mentor. You must complete at least one full year of supervised teaching in New Zealand, and you must have been teaching in New Zealand for three months when the recommendation for full registration is made. If you want further information please check out www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz.

What you can expect from UK schools:

Every teacher in the UK must complete 1 year’s induction which is similar to what you would do in New Zealand. If you do want to ensure that you are able to get your NZ registration mention this to the school you will be teaching in. Some schools may not be willing to do this in the beginning; they may be small and have no other teachers going through the programme. If this happens you would more than likely be able to complete it in your second year once the head teacher has got to know you. A big school might be more than happy to include you in the induction year programme they do for their beginning teachers. Remember to mention your intention to complete your NZ registration to your TimePlan co-ordinator to ensure they can discuss this with the school as well. If you are looking at staying in the UK for more than four years or would like to keep your options open for yourself you could combine the 1 year programme to gain NZ registration with obtaining QTS (qualified teacher registration) for the UK.