Have you wondered why your child has a different teacher 5 days a term?

In New Zealand, Classroom Release Time (CRT) is non-contact time provided to teachers, primarily in primary schools, to support workload and enhance student learning. Full-time teachers are entitled to 2.5 hours of CRT per week (25 hours a term/5 days per term).

CRT was introduced in 2005, when teachers were allocated 2 days a term. In the last few years, this has gradually increased, this year becoming 5 days per term.

Teachers can use CRT for various tasks, including:

• Planning and preparing lessons. 

• Evaluating student work and assessing progress. 

• Engaging in professional development and research. 

• Participating in school-based activities like observing other teachers, meetings with parents, agencies or other staff members. 

Often teachers use their CRT to assess children's learning. Many of the assessments we use in primary schools require the teacher to sit alongside individual children as they complete various tasks, especially in maths and literacy. This enables the teacher to identify exactly what processes the child is using and allows them to question their thinking and reasoning while they carry out certain activities. Some of these tasks may take 5 minutes per child, others half an hour or more per child. Some assessments may be used a few times a term, others a few times a year. They provide valuable information for the teacher about what a child can do, what their misconceptions are of concepts of learning and what they need to focus on next in their programme. CRT provides the time to do these things without the distraction of the remainder of the class.

As teachers we are very conscious that 5 days is a lot of learning time for a class to be without their teacher, and we need to still make the most of this time. Therefore, at ŌPS we timetable our CRT with a consistent pool of four teachers who each have a curriculum strength which enables us to provide an aspect of the programme they otherwise might get. Mr Hall is a great music teacher, and many of our students have experienced ukelele and music lessons when he has been teaching their class. Mrs Symes has a science background, and she deliveries interesting hands on science lessons across the school. Mrs Warren often uses a science focus and teaching other languages when she works in senior classes. Mrs Hayward ensures literacy and maths teaching continues in our junior classes during her days. When your child's teacher is on CRT, they are not being babysat by random teachers, they are still getting good quality teaching.