Three long-standing Dunedin educators are defending their profession against government attacks as their college marks a major milestone.

The University of Otago College of Education Te Kura Ākau Taitoka is celebrating 150 years of teacher training this year amid proposed changes to how the sector operates.

Dr Helen Trevethan,  a senior lecturer at the college,  has worked there for 33 years and said staff were feeling battered by recent political rhetoric.

“We’re in the era of teacher education bashing,” Dr Trevethan said.

Minister of Education Erica Stanford had called teacher education “woeful” so it was very timely to raise the profile of the work done in universities.

The government recently announced an expansion of a school onsite training programme.

“They want teachers to be trained in schools.

“There are programmes that do that already, like TeachNZ.

“So those people take graduates and they put them in a school, they work as a teacher.

“But the impact of that view of teaching means that you’re perpetuating the status quo.”

Teaching was in a continual state of change and development.

“The apprenticeship model of teacher education removes the opportunity for the teacher to look at options.

“I worry that this move is going to remove opportunities for innovation, for creativity,” Dr Trevethan said.

Senior professional practice fellow Andrea Robertson agreed a university environment was vital for helping student teachers navigate a rapidly changing world driven by new tools.

“With AI coming out, we are really embracing AI,” Mrs Robertson said.

“We need to prepare them to be critical users of it and to think.”

She teaches dance, music and literacy.

Students still learn to play instruments such as the ukulele and complete two hours of hands-on learning every week.

“We are wanting to create teachers that are thinkers, not just ‘here’s a programme go out, pick it up and read from the script and teach it’,” Mrs Robertson said.

Senior professional practice fellow Angela Miller said students got practical experience integrating with local resources.

“We make use of the community resource, really,” Mrs Miller said.

That included visits to places such as Tūhura Otago Museum, Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, Orokonui Ecosanctuary and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.

As someone who came from a teaching family, with her father a school principal, she understood that education trends sometimes came back into favour.

“I remember hearing my parents talk about that, the cyclic nature of education, that we do start to see things that we’ve seen before.”

Celebrating 150 years of teacher education

Open seminars featuring national education experts Lester Flockton, Helen May, Russell Bishop and Kate De Goldi are planned in the lead-up to a weekend of celebrations from October 16 to 18.

The University of Otago Library’s Special Collections team will present a showcase of 150 years of teacher education exhibition in the de Beer Gallery on the first floor of the Central Library.

A campus walking tour will include highlighting a wide range of artworks on the college campus.

A panel session of past and present staff will share anecdotes from their time in teacher education.

Past staff and students are encouraged to reconnect by taking part in the celebrations.

Further information and registration are available at events.otago.ac.nz/education150