Hiring unqualified teachers “absolutely inappropriate”

<h3>A government plan to allow &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;trainee teachers” to &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;learn on the job” in schools has appalled educators&comma; who will fight the move at an education Select Committee hearing today&period;<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The last-minute amendment to the Education Legislation Bill would enable schools to hire an unqualified person cheaply in an unsupervised teaching role while they undertook an initial teacher training programme&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>NZEI Te Riu Roa president Louise Green said no one in the education sector and certainly no parents had asked for such a move&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;As a principal&comma; I know that taking trainees straight off the street and putting them in front of a classroom is absolutely inappropriate&period;  Teachers need high-quality&comma; professional training and education to learn the skills of teaching&period; They need an understanding of child development and the curriculum&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ms Green said the move made no sense&comma; particularly as there is already an oversupply of certificated and registered primary teachers nationally&period;  This includes beginning teachers – according to the Ministry of Education&comma;  just 15 per cent of new teacher graduates are getting permanent fulltime jobs&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The amendments appear to be wholly inconsistent with the government’s goal of lifting the status of teaching and moving towards teaching as a post-graduate profession&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Any teacher will tell you how daunting it to teach a class just after graduating with a teaching qualification&period; It beggars belief that someone could hope to be an effective teacher with anything less&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;