First Cook Islanders Complete Teacher Aide Certificate
Five Cook Islanders have achieved The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand's Teacher Aide Certificate under a scheme to
upskill support workers in schools in the Pacific nation.
Funded by NZAid, the Certificate is part of the Cook Islands Government's wider strategy to raise teaching standards,
says the Cook Islands Ministry of Education Distance Education Manager Kim Holland.
The distance learning programme has been designed and developed by The Open Polytechnic to help individuals work more
efficiently as teacher aides and volunteer helpers in primary and intermediate schools.
The graduates are among a group of 18 from the outer Cook Islands undertaking the programme. They are Lucy Tutaka from
Mauke Island, Mina Mataio from Pukapuka, and Sue Ngarua, Miimetua Mauriaiti and Annie Ruatoe from Mangaia.
Under a new agreement, The Open Polytechnic will also deliver the National Certificate in Early Childhood Education and
Care (Parenting) (Level 3) to Cook Islands Teachers' Training College students.
'The Teacher Aide Certificate has shown that there is a need for further training in the Cook Islands especially in
teaching and early childhood education,' says Open Polytechnic Business Development Manager Beth Knowles. 'The Open
Polytechnic can help meet that need.'