Labour education spokesperson Trevor Mallard has welcomed the launch of professional development initiatives being conducted by Auckland's UNITECH saying that it will help children to learn.

The UNITECH in Schools Professional Development Initiative was launched today and Trevor Mallard said they were providing the type of service that a Labour Government would encourage more of.

"We have a very strong focus on professional development in our schools policy," Trevor Mallard said.

"The standard of a child's education depends more on the quality of the teacher than any other single factor. Labour's policy addresses the need for ongoing professional development throughout a teacher's career.

"The UNITECH initiative will provide practical professional development solutions which accentuate continuous improvement and are mainly school-based. They will also help teachers upgrade their qualifications as they improve their professional practice.

"Labour is committed to a well-resourced system for providing training and advisory services especially for in-service and advanced teaching studies; better quality control; and more certainty that funding will be spent on professional development.

"We will also link ongoing professional development to teacher registration.

"The programmes outlined by UNITECH today are exciting prospects for the provision of professional development. I have high hopes that they will fit in to Labour's plans for high quality professional development to be readily available for all schools," Trevor Mallard said.

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