NEW PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

FOR TEACHERS UNDERWAY

The first stage of a busy programme of professional development for Masterton primary and intermediate school teachers is underway.

Fully-funded by the Masterton Trust Lands Trust, the $200,000 year-long programme includes training for teachers in information and communication technology (ICT), behaviour management, literacy and the teaching of gifted and talented children.

This Monday schools will be closed as more than 260 teachers attend the first day of a conference on teaching gifted and talented children in Masterton. The second day will involve around 30 principals and lead teachers. Secondary school teachers will also attend this conference.

Twenty-four Masterton teachers attended a conference on behaviour management and the concept of ‘Circle Time’ earlier this month, led by UK-trained specialist Therese Hoyle. Masterton Intermediate principal and programme leader, Frazer Mailman, said those who attended were ‘highly energised’ by what they had learnt and were enthusiastic about putting the practical strategies in place in their schools.

Other activities under the programme will include visits by principals to schools in other regions operating best practice in the various areas, ongoing ICT training and study grants for teachers. A two-day conference in October will bring top literacy specialists to Masterton to promote good teaching practice in the area of literacy.

Masterton Trust Lands Trust chairman, Alan Sadler, said that following consultation with school principals the trust had shifted focus from reacting to grant applications, mostly for equipment, to supporting a coordinated professional development programme that can benefit all schools and all children. “It is teachers that make the changes for children’s education and good professional development has been proven to have positive spin-offs in children,” he said.

Funds distributed by the trust for primary and intermediate schools have increased dramatically this year, with most of the money going toward the professional development programme. An additional $25,000 will go to Masterton primary or intermediate schools based on the number of pupils at each school.

Mr Sadler said the increased funds had been made possible through the increased income the trust was now receiving from The Warehouse property rental and other property investments made recently in the town. Mr Sadler said the trustees were now working with secondary school principals to fund a similar programme of professional development for their teachers.

The Masterton Trust Lands Trust is a 133-year-old public lands trust formed to own and manage surplus land not sold to Masterton’s working class settlers. The original 320-pound value of the Trust’s land has now grown into an asset base of nearly $30 million.

Income from the Trust’s property rentals is distributed in the form of grants to assist educational, community and cultural activities within Masterton. This concept has played a key role in the evolution of the town since 1871 and continues to do so today

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