My colleague Sarah from New Zealand has been a delight to get to know. In our last discussion Sarah said she has just finished her two year registration process. After receiving your BA you have a two year practicum, or registration process where you work with a mentor in the classroom, after the two years you must meet 12 criteria. Now Sarah is doing the appraisal process to become a fully Registered Teacher, which must be maintained throughout her teaching carrer. This approach for early childhood teachers is why they have such a high quality system.
Sarah said; "I believe in inclusive education and equality. I want to empower children, so firstly by thinking about ways that the environment can as I take a step back and look for teachable moments."
Her challenges have been having 3 lead teachers in 3 years, she has no desire to be a lead teacher because of the massive amounts of paper work. Her success is her Kindy has been a part of ICT, which is Information and Communication Technology http://www.wonderingaboutict.blogspot.co.nz/ where they use technology in the classroom to build community and extend to the wider community. We have decided that we will skype with each others classroom. Her Kindy is a half day program, so we'll coordinate 10 am her time which will be 2 pm our time but a day earlier (thats a concept I have a hard time with). I am excited to keep this connection and will keep the hope that someday I can go visit this amazing ECE system.
I have links to so many references because of Sarah and I would love adopt their Learning Stories as a form of assessment in my program. This has been a great experience.
WOW! I have never heard of a two year practicum in order to receive your final degree in teaching. I have my statement of eligibility to teach but it only last for 5 years and within that time I have to be teaching in a classroom in order to do my KTIP requirements to become a fully license teacher. The problem is that their is not a high demand for preschool or kindergarten teachers. I wish that I could do a teaching practicum through KTIP to finialize my teaching certification.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your conversation with Sarah this week. I think the edcuational system in New Zealand is wonderful. Skyping with the classrooms will be a wonderful experience for all involved. I can't wait to read how it goes. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteChristina,
ReplyDeleteIts great to hear that you have gotten a great contact to communicate with and get to further your understanding about early childhood development. Congrats again and thanks for sharing your developments.
Hi Tina
ReplyDeleteI especially liked the idea of mentoring teachers even after they have acquired knowledge in the field for them to be certified for teachinng. Mentoring is very important as it helps us acquire the right skills and minimising guese works in our dealings with children. However, do you know what these 12 criteria that must be met after two years of being a mentee are?
Great post and thanks for sharing.
Adesoye
Yes Adesoye,
Deletethe 12 criteria can be found on the New Zealand Gov. Website http://www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/rtc/rtc.stm, if you get a chance check it out, they are very interesting.
Thanks Tina
Christina,
ReplyDeleteI believe it is amazing the information you received from your contact Sarah. If we had to experience this method in order to teach sadly I would have to say I wonder how many teachers would complete the process.
Thank you again for sharing
Lauren