[thewoodies]

We have recently had residency approved in principle - yeh - and are now thinking about other practicalities. My oh is a teacher and we want to get her NZQA and teacher registration but I have a few questions re the whole process.

Does anyone know if the NZQA assesment expires after a certain time or is valid indefinitely?

For Teacher Registration:

Should we be doing this from the UK or waiting until we move to NZ - no date yet as waiting to sell house.
Do we need to show the PR visa from our passports - I haven't got them yet as again, we are waiting to see what happens and to give us the max entry time.
Also, is there an expiry date on our UK police check? Will the one from our ITA (back in September 07) be ok still or should she get a new one?

Any advice would be much appreciated. I thought I'd filled in all the paperwork I was ever going to have to do. How wrong was I? Still, every step takes us a little closer to our dream.

Thanks in advance.:nice1

[jent]

Definitely register from the UK so that you have access to all the UK teaching records. I'm not sure how long the NZQA is valid for but know that the teacher reg only takes about 6 weeks. Schools won't even consider you for a job if you don't have your NZ teacher registration. The sooner the better.

[napiers]

Hi - I'm a primary school teacher who has already got PR. I've just recently sent off all my stuff to NZQA and as soon as I get something back from them (whenever that may be!!!) I shall be doing my teacher reg from the UK. Everything I've read and people I've spoken to at various expo's or via email have said that before I can apply for jobs I need to be registered with NZ Teachers Council. Encouraging to hear from Jent that teacher reg only takes about 6 weeks - hope NZQA get moving. They've taken my fee but not told me that they've received my documents! Good luck.

[lockstock]

You don't need a visa first to register as a teacher but you do need NZQA assessment which is sort of on-going especially if you get more qualifications. You need to sort out all your original certificates and get letters from previous employers to prove relevant work experience. Make sure you keep all the documents handy because even though NZQA will assess them, even though you'll get Teacher Reg and get a visa to work here on that basis, the salary department when you start your job here will want to see all of it again. Something to do with left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing!!!

Best of luck

[thewoodies]

Thanks for your advice. I've just photocopied all the stuff for NZQA and will send it off tommorrow.

Does anyone know about the UK police check and if one dated from July 07 will still be ok for Teacher reg.

Thanks