Apply Now
Wherever you live, turn your degree into a career as a primary school teacher for tamariki in your community with the Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary)
You will gain real-life experience, professional knowledge and bicultural skills to launch your career as a confident and competent teacher, working with tamariki from new entrants to year 10.
From the very beginning of your study, you will put your online learning into practice and build your confidence, with two days a week field-based practice in a school plus 12 weeks of practicum professional placements.
With the Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary), you will explore what it means to be a reflective, ethical, culturally responsive and child-centred teacher. You will build your understanding of the New Zealand curriculum and human learning and development.You will gain the skills to embrace te reo me ōna tikanga Māori, Pacific culture and the cultural identities of all tamariki you teach.
The Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary) is for people with a degree wanting a career in primary school teaching, including those in areas where campus-based tertiary education is less accessible.
The programme was developed in collaboration with school principals around New Zealand to create a pathway for people to study, qualify and register as teachers from their own communities.
It will also suit overseas-qualified teachers seeking a New Zealand qualification and a strong foundation in bicultural teaching and learning.

Programme delivery
Te ara tuku
- Online
- Field-based
- Face-to-face
- Full-time or part-time
The Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary)
may be studied for one year full-time, or two years part-time. You will study four 30-credit courses and two 15-credit courses to
complete the programme.
You can
study while you live and work in your own community, supported by skilled and
responsive lecturers, pouako and teachers.
Full-time study will involve:
- About 7.5 hours a week of online learning and engagement
- About 14.5 hours a week of independent study
- Two days a week of field-based practice in a primary, intermediate or area school supervised by a registered and certificated teacher
- Two practicum periods of five weeks and seven weeks to gain professional experience in a range of schools
- Three-day, in person orientation (to be held in Wellington in 2024)
- An overnight noho marae experience.