Te Waka Whakarei Career-Changer Scholarship

Requirements

To be eligible for the scholarship, you must:

• be changing your career or profession to teaching
• have at least 7 years of work experience or equivalent experience (either paid or unpaid) since leaving school
• be studying to teach in:
  • Kaupapa Māori/Māori-medium immersion (levels 1-3)* early childhood education centres
  • Kaupapa Māori/Māori-medium immersion (levels 1-3) primary schools or kura
  • Kaupapa Māori/Māori-medium immersion (levels 1-3) secondary schools or wharekura
  • English-medium secondary schools, teaching te reo Māori as a language (levels 2-5).

or, you can

• be an unqualified teacher currently working in a centre or school – such as a teacher aide
• be an unqualified teacher with a Limited Authority to Teach
• be working as a kaiārahi i te reo or kaiāwhina.

and

• be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident
• be enrolled, have applied for, or be planning to enrol, on one of the approved initial teacher education courses listed on the Teaching Council’s course-finder tool (see the 'Popular Resources' section of this page.) These courses may be updated during the year.

You are not eligible for the scholarship if you:  

• have already received a TeachNZ scholarship
• have already completed initial teacher education training or are already a registered teacher.

*Māori immersion level 1 – curriculum is taught in te reo Māori for 81-100% of the time
Māori immersion level 2 – curriculum is taught in te reo Māori for 51-80% of the time
Māori immersion level 3 – curriculum is taught in te reo Māori for 31-50% of the time
Māori immersion level 4(a) – curriculum is taught in te reo Māori for 12-30% of the time
Māori immersion level 4(b) – students are learning te reo Māori as a separate subject for at least 3 hours a week
Māori immersion level 5 – students are learning te reo Māori as a separate subject for less than 3 hours a week

Unpaid work experience 

This includes:

• any involvement you have had in the community or with community groups
• stay-at-home parents who have community/school involvement
• vocational placements
• unpaid internships.