Primary Teaching

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Are you passionate about inspiring future generations? Do you seek to teach and transform the lives of children and young people in Aotearoa New Zealand? Then our Primary Teaching degree may be for you.

BTI looks to educate wise teachers who are developing a gracious, secure and teachable character; motivated by love, informed by faith and inspired by hope.

Studying primary teacher education at BTI will give you the edge over graduates of other primary teaching qualifications. Not only will you be well-versed in the curriculum, you will be learning from educators at the forefront of research into modern learning methods.

Why study Primary Teaching at BTI?

Both full and part-time options
Learn in small groups onsite in Tauranga or by distance
Become part of a relational learning community
Staff get to know who you are and offer great learning support
Christian-based training
Staff draw on the latest research and practice in teaching and learning
Our programme is shaped by stakeholder feedback
Get a job in your chosen career – nearly 100% of our Primary students have offers of employment before the end of their final year.

The Bachelor of Education (Teaching) Primary three-year degree prepares students to teach primary and intermediate school children in a wide range of educational settings and with the Aotearoa New Zealand Curriculum.

Graduates from this programme are eligible to gain registration and provisional certification with the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our students also have a very high success rate when it comes to gaining employment after completing their degree.

“I find myself studying to become a teacher which I never in my wildest imagination would’ve thought possible. Through my first year of study at BTI I have learned so much about myself as a teacher and learner, and hope to continue to grow in the education sector.”

Koti Tikitiki-Whittaker, student teacher in BTI’s Primary Teacher Education programme

Programme overview

This degree can be completed on site or via distance learning.

If you decide to study via distance, there are two compulsory intensive block courses (usually held on campus) during the year. We recommend that students under 20 years old would study on campus and that students under 25 choose to do the same at least for the first year.

Full-time study requires a commitment of at least 40 hours per week.

Courses are made up of lectures and/or online course work, tutorial groups, academic reading and research, meeting assessment expectations, community life sessions (if onsite) and preparing for upcoming course sessions.

Professional practice experience placements are a part of the course workload. These are completed with a range of school settings and year levels.

Year 1: semester 1 – 3 weeks, semester 2 – 3 weeks
Year 2: semester 1 – 4 weeks, semester 2 – 4 weeks
Year 3: semester 1 – 5 weeks, semester 2 – 8 weeks

Part time options are also available for this programme, please contact us to discuss how this may work for you.