Universities are feeling hard-done-by following the release of figures that show government funding for in-school teacher training heavily favoured a newcomer to teacher education that was headed at the time by the chair of the Teaching Council.

The Teachers' Institute was allowed to triple its intake of school-based teacher trainees this year while universities were denied similar growth in what they say was a shambolic and odd process.

Students on one-year School Onsite Training Programme (SOTP) courses were paid $20,660 and expected to work in their host schools for three days a week, excluding classroom practicum, while completing a teaching diploma or masters degree.

Figures published by the Education Ministry (MOE) show the government gave more than half the 533 places for this year to non-university providers and most of those to the Teachers' Institute, a charity set up by Auckland schools and led at the time by the then-chair of the Teaching Council David Ferguson.

Information provided by the ministry show some of the organisations did not have Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) funding for those students prompting a late appeal to the commission to approve the money.

Universities say the process for allocating student places for 2026 was overly complex and delayed, which resulted in many failing to fill all of the student places they were allocated.

Overall, 286 of the 533 SOTP places allocated for 2026 went to non-universities and 152 of those to the Teachers' Institute.

The institute was much more successful than most other organisations at filling the student places it was allocated.

RNZ requested the figures under the Official Information Act (OIA) on 25 February, but was denied in a letter dated 25 May on the basis they would soon be published - which happened this week.

The OIA response said the ministry assessed applications for funding and allocated places for 2026 based on its Teacher Demand and Supply report which showed where teachers were most needed.

Text messages released as part of the OIA response showed Ferguson asked the ministry for tips ahead of a meeting with Tertiary Education Commission chief executive Tim Fowler on 20 November 2025.

The meeting apparently concerned a late request for an increase in the number of tertiary students the commission would subsidise in 2026.

A ministry staff member told Ferguson: "With tim it's really unusual to grow their tec allocation so much, so I think focus on the fact that the business model is aligned with what govt and moe and tec all think is the future.

"He needs you to make a case so he can make a case to his board. He's doing us a big favour and will blame the ministry for not telling them about the sotp allocations. Feel free to let him."

The ministry said the texts referred to a situation where the ministry allocated school-based teacher training places to organisations that did not have Tertiary Education Commission funding for their students.

"The TEC subsequently approved funding for the additional places across the providers who had not received that funding," it said.

The sector had previously alleged favouritism of the Teaching Institute.

The Council of Deans of Education and teacher union the Educational Institute asked earlier this year if the Education Minister Erica Stanford had helped the institute get funding, suggestions the minister and institute denied.

The ministry told RNZ a potential conflict of interest was identified.

"David Ferguson's appointment to the Teaching Council was included on the SOTP project risk register in August 2025. The conflict was deemed to be a perceived conflict only, as Mr Ferguson's roles on these boards held no bearing or influence on the way that allocation of places to providers were determined. Procurement was not involved in this process," it said.

Asked why the institute's allocation was tripled, but other providers' was not, the ministry did not provide a direct answer.

"As more ITE providers participate in the SOTP programme, the distribution of places may result in some providers receiving fewer places and others receiving more depending on their capacity, host school availability and levels of school and student interest," it said.

A shambolic process

Auckland University's head of School of Education and Social Practice Aaron Wilson said the university started offering an in-school programme for trainee secondary teachers in 2023 - before the Education Ministry began backing the scheme and expanding it.

He said the university developed good relationships with schools and filled all or nearly all of the places it was allocated each year.

But late in 2025 it was told that some of the schools it worked with had been allocated to the Teachers' Institute for 2026, he said.

Wilson said it had never worked before with many of the schools it was partnered with for 2026 contributing to it filling only 40 of its 69 allocated places.

"Last year the ministry initially allocated schools to different providers and we weren't allocated schools that we had long-standing partnerships with and who had actually been with us right from the beginning," he said.

"There was a real change in the process that the Ministry of Education used... a lot of our partner schools were very unhappy and basically it ended up being a scramble at the end of the year trying to establish new relationships that were sort of foisted on us by the ministry."

Wilson said some of the schools the university had worked with in the past were allocated to other providers.

"We did request a review of that decision and there was a bit of a release of some extra places later in the year but it had already caused difficulty for us and the partner schools we had."

Wilson said he did not believe the university was treated fairly.

"I don't think we were treated respectfully, or our partner schools," he said.

"We felt messed around and the schools that we worked with felt messed around by that process."

"It would certainly feel in that process that the Teachers' Institute were in favour and we were out of favour."

The ministry did not confirm whether schools that were formerly assigned to the University of Auckland were assigned to the institute.

"Joint applications from both the ITE providers and schools were required for the 2026 allocations. Schools determined which ITE provider or providers they wanted to work with. Some schools chose to apply with more than one ITE provider," it said.

University of Waikato Pro Vice-Chancellor Education Claire McLachlan told RNZ the process for allocating 2026 places was shambolic and odd.

She said schools had to go through a complicated application process including stating support for government's favoured approach to teaching.

"Last year was shambolic," she said.

"What they did last year was very odd. They went through a process where schools had to explain a whole bunch of complicated things about how they were delivering the science of learning."

McLachlan said Auckland schools that were previously involved with the scheme were furious that some were dropped from it.

"It did feel unusual," she said.

She said she had been told the Teachers' Institute programme was more practically-focused than Waikato's and involved less assessment.

She said some people criticised universities' teacher-training as overly theoretical but that was not true.

"If you only go with practice you wind up with some very, very poor teachers over time because they've got a recipe, they've got a script and that's not going to help them when they're dealing with a diverse group of students," she said.

"I don't accept the criticism that we're overly-theoretical but I would accept the criticism that we probably over-assess."

The Teachers' Insitute said in a statement it received more applications from students this year because it added primary and "foundation programmes" to the courses it offered and increased the number of partner schools it worked with.

It said it had also "developed a strong reputation for training quality teachers in the real-world environment of schools".

Asked why its funded places increased much more than other organisations, it said: "Our funded places increased because we had an increase in the number of confirmed applicants to our teacher training programmes."

Meanwhile, David Ferguson said he had no comment.

How the SOTP places were allocated

Overall, the 10 organsiations funded to provide SOTP this year filled only 413 or 77 percent of the places they were allocated.

The Teachers' Institute had 48 students in 2025, requested funding for 181 students in 2026, received 152 and filled 143 places.

The University of Waikato filled 52 places in 2025, requested funding for 162 in 2026, received 76 places but only filled 49. It expected to add a further 20 through a mid-year intake.

The University of Auckland also had 52 students in 2025, requested funding for 178 in 2026, received 69 places and managed to fill 40 of them.

Te Rito Maioha Early Childhood New Zealand had 42 students in 2025, asked for 171 for this year, received 90 places and filled 62.

The Open Polytechnic was the only other non-university provider approved for funding this year. It sought 121 places, was granted 44 and succeeded in filling 25.

Massey University sought 109 places, received 40 but filled 54 places after a boost to its initial allocation.

AUT, Victoria, Canterbury and Otago each filled between two and 19 places.