Home Kāinga Structured Literacy & Maths PLD Structured Literacy & Maths PLD SLA PLD support for specialised teaching practices

SLA PLD support for specialised teaching practices

The Ministry is funding professional learning and development (PLD) to support structured literacy approaches (SLA) for specialised teaching.

Information on specialist schools PLD

The Ministry is funding professional learning and development (PLD) to support structured literacy approaches (SLA) for specialised teaching.

This PLD will help teachers develop deep expertise in elements of structured literacy approaches (SLA) and specialised teaching practices to enable students with high and complex learning needs to learn to communicate, read and write.

Additionally, this PLD will support participants in leading sustainable changes in teaching practices and building in-school capability.

This specialised PLD will be delivered and facilitated by the University of Canterbury - Better Start Literacy Approach (BSLA).

Eligibility criteria

This PLD opportunity is currently available to educators in specialist schools.

It is now being extended to teachers supporting specialist teaching in mainstream contexts. This includes:

Teachers working in specialist classes and/or units in mainstream schools
Teachers providing 0.1 or 0.2 ORS specialist teaching
SENCOs or LSCs providing system-level support to students with high and complex needs

For the Cohort commencing in Term 3, teachers meeting criteria 1 will be invited to enrol first. After this, teachers meeting criteria 2 and 3 will be invited to enrol. Places are limited and if oversubscribed, the Ministry will instigate a prioritisation process based on school needs.

Upcoming cohorts

There are now two additional cohorts available:

Cohort 3 will begin in Term 3, 2026 and will focus on specialised teaching practices for mainstream contexts.

Cohort 4 will begin in Term 1, 2027 and is for both teachers in specialised schools and teachers working in specialist classes and/or units in mainstream schools.

Structure of the PLD

The PLD will involve face-to-face and/or virtual/remote learning.

Specialist Schools

PLD for each cohort will be delivered over three school terms and comprises the following as a minimum over two phases:

Core delivery:

1 two-day face-to-face facilitated workshop OR 1 two-day facilitated online workshop
3 communities of practice (over one term)

Maintenance and support:

6 communities of practice (over two terms)

Key dates:

Cohort	Begins	Ends
Cohort 1	Term 3, 2025	Term 1, 2026
Cohort 2	Term 1, 2026	Term 3, 2026
Cohort 3	Term 3, 2026	Term 1, 2027
Cohort 4	Term 1, 2027	Term 3, 2027

Expectations of schools and teachers who engage in the PLD

Please note that to evaluate the effectiveness of this PLD, facilitators will be collecting information from teachers. All teachers completing this PLD will need to:

Collect impact assessment data with help from your PLD facilitator(s)
Complete pre-PLD, post-workshop, and post-PLD teacher surveys

Any information given will remain anonymous and be aggregated and used to assess the overall impact of this PLD.

Funding and how to access the PLD

If you would like to enrol teachers with the University of Canterbury, please click on Betterstartapproach.com to register them. If you have any questions, please contact askBSLA@canterbury.ac.nz.

The costs of attending the face-to-face workshops will be funded by the Ministry (excluding travel and accommodation expenses).

PLD costs will be paid directly to the University of Canterbury by the Ministry of Education.

No Teacher Release Days will be funded for this PLD.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Why is this PLD becoming available to educators working in specialist classes attached to mainstream schools?

This PLD is a targeted investment in workforce capability to ensure learners with complex needs are supported. The Ministry started PLD delivery with specialist schools in the first instance and are now able to expand this opportunity more widely.

How many staff members can I enrol in this PLD as an eligible mainstream school?

Mainstream schools can enrol teachers providing specialist support who meet the eligibility criteria. If demand exceeds places, enrolment may be restricted to one teacher per school.

Does this only apply to students attending primary schools?

This PLD is available to teachers across primary, intermediate, and high school settings.

How can I enrol a staff member in this PLD?

If you would like to enrol a staff member with the University of Canterbury, please click on Betterstartapproach.com to register them. If you have any questions, please contact askBSLA@canterbury.ac.nz.

Why isn’t this PLD available for teacher aides working in mainstream schools?

This PLD is funded from the 2024 Foundational Structured Literacy Budget which is focussed on providing PLD support for classroom teachers. Currently, the Ministry is unable expand this funding beyond focussing on classroom teachers in the first instance.

If teachers have done the foundational SLA PLD already – are they still eligible for this PLD? What new knowledge will they learn from this PLD if they have done the foundational SLA PLD?

Teachers who have done the foundational SLA PLD are eligible to participate in this PLD. This PLD will have a specific focus on how to assess and provide tailored structured literacy teaching for learners with high and complex needs.

Do teachers need to come from mainstream schools that are already implementing the Better Start Literacy Approach?

It is ideal if teachers are within schools implementing BSLA as the specialist teaching PLD is aligned to BSLA. However, this opportunity is open to teachers supporting students with high and complex needs in schools implementing other types of structured literacy teaching. The specialist teaching course will provide teachers with access to assessments and teaching materials for students with emergent literacy skills. For students with high and complex needs who have more advanced literacy abilities, general guidance will be provided on how to adapt assessments and tailor structured literacy teaching for these learners.