There are three supports available in Programmes for Students (PfS):
PfS places are available for teachers of students in years 1–10.
PfS provides mentor support to:
PfS are provided as a supplement to effective classroom teaching and are designed to be provided within the students’ regular learning setting (with-cohort support).
Teachers work in collaborative groups within or across schools with local and regional meetings to help to spread and sustain effective practice.
Teachers who participate in ALL, ALiM, or MST should be effective and culturally responsive literacy or maths teachers with good content and pedagogical knowledge, and the willingness to inquire into doing things differently.
The Ministry funds mentors to support:
Mentors also aggregate data to report to the Ministry across the schools they have worked in. Reports do not identify the individual students involved.
ALL and ALiM are one-year programmes, with rapid cycles of inquiry and support within a school.
The ALL or ALiM teacher provides extra support for a small group of 6–8 students who have been identified as needing some further support to experience learning success in literacy and numeracy.
The Ministry of Education funds schools $4,000 per ALL or AliM teacher (place) per year.
MST teachers provide extra support for a small group of students who have been identified as needing further support to experience learning success in numeracy. MST includes mentor support, workshops and tertiary study.
The MST teacher is a classroom teacher – they are funded to spend time on MST outside their regular classroom teaching and will run a series of supplementary interventions for different groups of students throughout the year.
Costs are shared between the Ministry and the school, with the Ministry contribution paid through the school’s operations grant. The MST is initially expected to work with approx. 10 students for every 0.1FTTE pointage they have been funded for. Successful interventions are then to be integrated into classroom practice across the school. Funding is per school, not per teacher. Although the MST role may be shared between more than one teacher if a school prefers, the total funding provided by the Ministry will remain the same.
The MST is also required to undertake a post-graduate paper each year, for which $1,000 will be paid by the Ministry towards the tuition fee on successful completion of the MST compulsory paper. It is expected that the Board of Trustees will commit to paying the balance, as part of building school capability in mathematics. In the first year (MST1), MST teachers undertake the Making Mathematics Accessible paper through Massey University. If MST teachers continue in the programme for a second year (MST 2), they undertake the Mathematics Education paper.
We recommend that schools participating in MST have previously implemented Accelerating Learning in Mathematics (ALiM) in their school. Schools that have not previously participated in ALiM, must demonstrate a commitment to the intervention.
The closing date for expressions of interest for Programmes for Students for 2023 is Monday 21 November. If you are interested in taking part, please talk to your Education Advisor or directly email your local regional PfS lead.
Download the list of PfS Regional office leads:
Programmes for Students - regional office leads (Word 2007, 17 KB)
Please include your school name, school number, the name of the intervention(s), and the number of teachers you’d like involved. If you are expressing interest in MST, please also include the name of the teacher and whether this is their first or second year taking part (MST 1 or MST 2).
Resourcing information for principals: School funding for Programmes for Students (PfS): ALL, ALiM and MST
For any other queries, please:
Download list of Programmes for Students - regional office leads:
Programmes for Students - regional office leads (Word 2007, 17 KB)
Updated on: 13 Sep 2021
