New Zealand Tertiary College

From Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education

New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) is a provider of teaching qualifications for early childhood teachers, both face to face and online.

Its web site is at http://www.nztertiarycollege.ac.nz/

History

New Zealand Tertiary College was founded in Auckland, New Zealand in 1982 by the founder of Kindercare Learning Centres. At the time, Kindercare provided in-house training for its teachers, but the CEO wanted to develop a training programme which would result in formal qualifications.

The College was originally named Kindercare Early Childhood Teachers College. Due to demand for its early childhood qualifications from teachers outside of Kindercare, in 1997 it was renamed the more generic New Zealand Tertiary College.

The College has been instrumental in achieving New Zealand government accreditation for qualifications in early childhood education. It has also played a significant part in gaining professional status for early childhood teachers in New Zealand.

In 1998, the College gained approval to offer a distance learning mode of course delivery as a more flexible option for students working full-time or living in remote areas.

In 2003, Selena Fox took over leadership of the College, and expanded the distance learning mode to include online learning.

Following years of research, Selena and a long-time colleague and friend Dr Chip Donohue (from the University of Wisconsin-Madison) developed ecelearn, an innovative online teaching and learning environment designed especially for the early childhood profession.

In 2009, NZTC started offering its courses via its customised version of ecelearn called NZTC Online.

In 2009, NZTC started offering its Education qualifications to students based in India. All programmes are delivered via NZTC Online.

There are also developments in Singapore and Philippines.

> New Zealand
> Teacher training providers