Teaching in New Zealand Schools
Information for Overseas Trained Teachers about teaching in NZ Schools
- In New Zealand, teachers are employed directly by individual schools. Schools are run by a Board of Trustees.
- Schools are ranked by a Decile system (1-10). In general you can expect students at a school with a higher Decile ranking to come from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
School terms in NZ
Schools are open for 194 days per year. The academic year runs Jan-Dec.
- Term 1 = End January to Easter
- Term 2 = After Easter to early July
- Term 3 = mid July to late September
- Term 4 = Early October to mid December
Types of NZ schools and student age groups
- Early Learning Centres – 0-4yrs;
- Pre-school and Kindergarten 2-4yrs;
- Full Primary (New Entrants - yr 8) 5-13yrs;
- Contributing Primary (New Entrants – Yr 6) 5-11yrs;
- Intermediate (Year 7 & 8) 11-13yrs;
- Secondary (called High Schools or Colleges) (Year 9 – 13) 13-18yrs
