The TEU have drawn attention to Otago University’s plans to cut the number of teacher educators. This move isn’t necessarily because they don’t like teacher educators. I think it’s to do with the fact that the research that is relevant for teacher educators isn’t considered to be “real research” by the government that attracts PBRF funding. So, when it comes to wire over funding, the departments that don’t generate as much PBRF government income are the first to be targeted for budget cuts. I suspect if teacher colleges knew this sort of thing was going to happen they would have held out against the trend of becoming part of universities for a lot longer.
I recall (earlier post here) that the Education faculty at the University of Canterbury was at risk of being ”fined” if they did not attract enought PBRF funding for the university.
UPDATE: Have altered the wording of this post slightly, to reflect that it is government policy that decides which research counts towards PBRF.
Posted by ivorytowerkiwi 
