A Few Notes on Teacher Registration

Over the last few months some of our consultants have been approached by final-year students about teacher registration. We thought we'd answer a few of the questions in this blog post.

Before we go on, please note we are not experts on teacher registration. The organisation to refer your questions to is the New Zealand Teacher's Council, who can be contacted via their fantastic website www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz (which also has lots of great information on the teacher registration process).

Is getting my teacher registration important? 

Absolutely! Getting your teacher registration is critical for teaching in New Zealand. If you want to teach in a primary or secondary school, you must have registration. This includes working as a relief teacher.

It is possible to work as an unregistered teacher in early childhood centres, however registered teachers get paid at a much higher rate (this applies to relief teaching too) and some centres will only hire registered teachers.

What does the process involve? 

Here's a great infographic on the NZTC website on how to apply for teacher registration if you are a new graduate teacher from NZ.

When should I apply? Should I wait until I'm offered a role?  

Don't wait! You should apply for teacher registration as soon as you get your final marks back from your course.

It takes 4-6 weeks for the NZTC to process your registration so if you want to be teaching at the beginning of Term 1 2014 you should get you registration application in by beginning of December.

At $220.80 the registration fee isn't cheap... but definitely worth the expense. Think about it this way - you can earn the fee back with 1-2 days of relieving work as a registered teacher!

Can I apply for roles if I'm not registered yet? 

Yes, you absolutely can and should. Again, don't wait. Schools understand that new graduate teachers often don't registration when applying for roles. Just make it clear on your CV and/or the school application form where you are in the process.

If you are waiting on final results, you can put 'Applying for Provisional Teacher Registration on completion of course in November 2013' or something similar.

If you have put in your application and are waiting on final results you can say, 'Provisional Teacher Registration application pending' or something similar.