PLD Delivery Details
Within the first school term of delivery (starting Term 2, 2025), we will provide three full days of workshops and four communities of practice. We will provide a further four communities of practice over the next two school terms.
All participants enrolled in our PLD register for these workshops and communities of practice. We tailor PLD content and activities within our PLD sessions to accommodate differing areas of focus.
Our PLD model is a blended learning model. It involves opportunities for in-person regional workshops or online workshops. We provide online live support and collaboration via community of practice sessions. Our experienced regional PLD Educators support leaders and regional communities of practice. We also support teachers’ independent learning via high quality online course content.
Access to quality resources, lesson plans and assessments
During our structured literacy PLD course teachers will have access to our high quality online structured literacy teaching and assessment content. This includes lesson plans, teaching activities and access to an extensive range of high-quality video examples of structured literacy teaching within our New Zealand schools. Teachers will also have access to our BSLA assessment website, which includes a range of valid and reliable online structured literacy assessments that we have specifically designed for the New Zealand context. This website provides teachers with knowledge and skills in administering evidence based assessments to monitor the effectiveness of their structured literacy teaching.
We continue to advance our innovations in PLD and structured literacy teaching. Our latest development is a game-based app designed to support younger learners (5-8 years) acquire foundation phonic, phoneme awareness, word reading and spelling skills. Enrolment in our PLD provides teachers and literacy specialists with access to this latest innovation.
Structured Literacy Teaching Qualification
The successful completion of the course will lead to a certificate of proficiency in structured literacy (15 points at postgraduate level, approved by the University of Canterbury). These points can be used to contribute towards other postgraduate study in a related field, i.e., Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma in Education, or a Masters of Education.
PLD Course Requirements
These requirements meet Ministry of Education criteria for funding and University of Canterbury qualification requirements.
All participants are required to:
Attend 3 days of workshops and 8 communities of practice over three school terms.
Complete 2 online learning quizzes (related to PLD course content).
Complete pre and post PLD survey related to linguistic knowledge, skills and confidence in teaching using structured literacy teaching strategies.
Demonstrate ability to notice, identify and respond to students with literacy learning challenges.
Classroom teachers (either Years 0-3 or 4-8) will also be required to:
School literacy leadership or literacy support roles (Years 0-8) will also be required to: