Teaching Council Of Aotearoa responds to concerns about fee increases

<p><strong>Some teachers are upset about fee increases that teachers pay for registration and certification&comma; the Teaching Council of Aotearoa confirmed in an open letter this week&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Council CE Lesley Hoskin said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;The fee is doubling to &dollar;157 every year starting February 2021&period; This equates to &dollar;3 per week&comma; an increase of &dollar;1&period;60 per week to what teachers are already paying&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<blockquote>&NewLine;<p>No matter how it is framed&comma; it is money out of teachers’ pockets&period; However&comma; it is the only increase in 10 years and although it is a big jump it pays for the safety of children and quality teaching&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;<p>The government has heavily subsidised teacher fees for the past five years&comma; including &dollar;16&period;5m to help move to annualisation of fees in the 2020 Budget&period; The Council announced the new fee and structure on Budget day&comma; so teachers weren’t left wondering what the Budget money meant for them&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>What does the fee buy teachers&quest; <&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Lesley said&colon; &&num;8220&semi;It buys into a system working to ensure the safety of children and quality of teaching&period; It buys independence for teachers to use their expert opinion to influence legislation&comma; policy and importance matters in the education system&period; It buys the opportunity to collectively shape teachers values&comma; knowledge and ethical practice to contribute to the wellbeing of our communities&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;