Politics Live Blog - ongoing OLD
Government will pay for teacher registrations, in move costing $53m
Education Minister Erica Stanford has confirmed the Government will stop charging teachers to be registered.
In a pre-Budget announcement made at a school in Lower Hutt, Stanford said there would be $53 million allocated in Budget 2025 to pay for teacher registrations.
Like other regulated professions, teachers must attain a registration to work. Many other registered professions, such as lawyers, have their employer pay the licensing feee.
Stanford said that, from July, the Government would fund the Teaching Council so that it didn’t need to charge a registration fee.
The union for intermediate and secondary schools welcomed the announcement.
“The Government’s decision to pay our Teaching Council fees indicates that it realises it needs to do everything it can to keep teachers in the profession in the midst of a chronic secondary teacher shortage. Paying teachers’ Teaching Council fees lets teachers know their professional expertise is valued and provides an incentive to stay in the job,” said the PPTA’s Chris Abercrombie.