Hon Hekia Parata
Minister of Education

9 March 2012 Media Statement

Minister to attend International Summit on the Teaching Profession

Education Minister, Hekia Parata, will attend the second International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) in New York next week.

The US Department of Education, the OECD and Education International are bringing together Education Ministers, Union Leaders and other Teacher Leaders from 24 countries, on March 14-15, to discuss and share ideas about teacher education and professional development, effective school leadership, and evaluation of teaching.

The countries attending were identified by the OECD’s PISA study as having high performing and/or rapidly improving education systems.

“Like most nations, we are looking at ways to prepare our children for the higher educational demands of life and work in the 21st century,’’ says Ms Parata.

“The summit will provide an excellent opportunity to hear how other nations are managing this and give us a chance to develop better education policies.

“It will also allow us to look at how other countries are raising achievement for students, in particular for those groups who have historically underperformed, which is a key focus for our Government,” says Ms Parata.

The summit will also look at the challenge of teacher shortages, attracting people to the teaching profession, developing teaching quality, appraisal of school leaders, and technology in the classroom.

Accompanying Ms Parata to New York is PPTA President Robin Duff, NZEI President Ian Leckie and Sylvia Park School Principal Barbara Ala’alatoa.

Ms Parata will also spend a day in Washington where she will meet with officials from the US Department of Education, including US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and visit an example of a charter school.

ENDS

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