Teacher-led Innovation Fund (TLIF)

Teacher-led Innovation Fund extended until June 2020

Education Minister, Hekia Parata, has announced the extension of the fund until June 2020 with an additional $8 million invested over 5 years.

Round 2 outcomes

We received 69 full proposals when the application round closed on 13 May this year. The Selection Panel have chosen 46 projects to receive funding over the next 2 years.

We will notify all schools of the outcome of their full proposals in the week of 20 June 2016. Successful schools will receive their funding agreements with the acceptance letters.

About the fund

The fund supports teams of teachers to develop innovative practices that improve learning outcomes. All primary and secondary teachers in state and state integrated schools can apply. You do not have to belong to a community of learning to apply for this fund.

Read the lessons learned from Round 1 applications and see a list of successful projects and schools from Rounds 1 and 2.

Research information available through our library is on the Finding information and research page

Purpose of the fund

The fund supports teams of teachers to develop innovative practices that improve learning outcomes - especially for students who are Māori, Pasifika, have special education needs, and/or come from low socio-economic backgrounds.

It allows teachers the time and opportunity to:

inquire into ‘puzzles of practice’, with other kaiako/teachers, to find ways of helping individual (or groups of) students to succeed
work in partnership with experts, for example, academics, researchers, community and/or cultural leaders, innovation experts
share what works with other kura/schools and educators across Aotearoa New Zealand.

Innovative projects involve inquiring into new practices, or applying existing practices in new contexts, and investigating in a systematic way whether they result in improved learning outcomes.

The fund is a component of Investing in Educational Success .

How funding can be used

No funding ‘ceiling’ is placed on projects. However, the funding allocated must align with the purpose, scope, scale and expected benefits of the project.

Transitions through the education system are important and project teams are encouraged to involve early childhood and tertiary partners, and business and community organisations, where relevant to the project. Projects can pay early childhood and tertiary organisations as appropriate.

The fund also allows for project teams to bring in additional expertise if they need to.

Next steps for successful projects

The boards of trustees of the schools involved in each project will need to sign a Funding Agreement. Projects will need to be monitored by the project team and checkpoint reports provided. An independent monitoring panel will review checkpoints as the project progresses and provide feedback.