From the Chair
Kia ora,
Although July and August were cold and wet months they didn’t stop the Council from moving forward and forging links with industry and schools. Council members also worked with students on their Velocity projects. In spare moments Council members have been contacting companies to investigate ways they could support New Zealand technology education. This is obviously very time consuming but we hope we will see some benefits by the end of the year. Mind Kids is keen to work with TENZ and support technology teachers in any way they can. The Council also spent many weeks developing an expression of interest for a second round of MOE funding (unfortunately we were unsuccessful). However as we have already won two contracts this year we feel TENZ is progressing well.
The link below is to the Technology Teachers Facebook site and is brilliant. I hope you all are members but if not, contact the Facebook team and tell them which school you work in. The link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/technoteach
Engineering New Zealand (ENZ)
TENZ has always had strong links with ENZ (formally known as IPENZ). ENZ provides many services for TENZ. For example, with the ENZ building being in Wellington, it serves as a wonderful central location for the TENZ Council AGM as well as the annual regional chairs’ meeting. ENZ also manage aspects of our finances which helps ensure TENZ is financially ‘squeaky clean’. In the future, we hope to work more closely with ENZ as we see many synergies. Currently TENZ Council members are keen to build this relationship by promoting Engineering week (beginning 18 August) in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
TESAC
TENZ contacted the presidents/chairs and vice-presidents/deputy chairs of HETTANZ, DTTA, NZGTTA and organised the first TESAC meeting of the year held on Saturday, 28 July. The meeting was held at the University of Auckland. All associations were represented and everyone felt the meeting was very successful. Strategies for addressing our common issues were discussed. It is clear the associations were all keen to support each other to ensure each association thrives.
TESAC stands for Technology Education Subject Association Coalition. It was established around 2008/2009 to bring together all the technology related subject associations. This provides a forum for sharing information and expertise, as well as creating a stronger lobbying voice.
Matanga Project Update
Over the last two months Liz Reinsfield has put in considerable effort behind the scenes. She has held numerous meetings and has completed extensive planning. An infographic has been designed for Council feedback and emails have been sent to TENZ members, to inform them of the project and progress. If you have any great ideas in terms of advertising, or would like to know more about this project, please contact Liz Reinsfield at [email protected]
Website
Extensive work has been undertaken to continue to extend the capabilities of the TENZ website. If you have any queries or suggestions regarding the website, please contact Mike Forret at [email protected] .
Regions
If you have not received a membership email, please contact Wendy Slatter on [email protected].
Auckland/Northland Region Please contact Wendy Slatter if you have any queries. Had a meeting to discuss re-establishing local area meetings for 2019.
Waikato/Bay of Plenty On 5 June the University of Waikato, hosted a regional event to showcase current research projects There were a total of 23 in attendance. Please contact Steve Andrew on [email protected] if you have any questions or suggestions about future events.
Central Region Central Region TENZ members were invited to join the Wellingtons Robotics PD and a Safety Seminar at Massey, Palmerston North Campus (through ENZ links).TENZ is still looking for a Central host who will offer us a meeting space. If you can host us by offering us a staff-room or technology space to meet, please contact Wendy Slatter either by email or phone her on 021 795 366.
Wellington Region Bill Boyes ran a Coding Day on Friday 8 June (prior to Robocup) for TENZ members. The plan going forward being to run a social event late term 3- early term 4 in Wellington Central, with a view to setting up local area meetings in 2019. Please contact Wendy Slatter if you have any queries.
Southern South Island Held a meeting at Tahuna on 23 May, with approximately 30 people present. Food and Fabric teacher members in the region also met at this time to moderate together. Bill is hoping to run some ‘locally-based’ meetings in the next half year in places other than Dunedin. If you can offer to be a meeting host, please contact Bill Boyes on [email protected] or Wendy.
Northern South Island Region– If you can host us by offering us a staff-room or technology space to meet, please contact Wendy either by email or phone her on 021 795 366.
Students – If you have joined under a student membership, our Students’ Regional Chair, Kaelin Jones will be contacting you regarding the change-over from a student membership to an individual or institution (through your school) membership. Thanks to those who have already responded to Kaelin’s email. The process is still ongoing. We look forward to welcoming you to our professional organisation.
Initial Teacher Education
TENZ is very aware of the need to increase the numbers of teachers delivering technology. The Council is working hard to support all initial teacher education (ITE) providers. Any resources that are developed or sourced are being distributed amongst these providers. We are also keen to include any in-service providers. If this is you or you know any in-service providers – please put them in contact with us as we are keen to ensure everyone in this sector is provided with as much support as possible.
TRCC
As you are aware TENZ won national funding to support Teacher Refresher Courses (TRCC) on Coding and digital technology. Ceri deBoo has been working with TRCC staff to arrange the programme for 2019. Wendy Slatter has agreed to assist Ceri on the planning committee.
Conference
Considerable work has been undertaken to source a suitable conference venue, conference dinner venue, caterer, and date for the 2019 TENZ conference. The Council approved Albany Senior High (Auckland, North Shore) as the venue for the 2019 Conference. The dates will be Oct 1-3. The conference dinner will be held on site.
Contact Us
We regularly receive emails from members, requesting information or suggesting new directions. Membership across all sectors is steadily growing. We want to build a strong, connected and collaborative technology education community and, to this end, we are keen to hear from you. Please feel free to contact us with any queries, new developments or suggestions you might have, either via our website https://tenz.org.nz/contact or by direct email or phone.
Best wishes/ Ngā mihi,
Kerry Lee
(Chair of TENZ)