Review Officer

Tasks & duties

Review officers do some or all of the following:

• plan and prepare for review visits to schools, early childhood education services and home-schooled students
• liaise with principals, boards of trustees, early childhood service managers and staff, teachers, whānau and students
• observe classroom practice 
• keep detailed field notes
• chair and attend meetings
• read school documents and reports
• analyse and synthesise data from observations, discussions and documents
• meet with colleagues to prepare review reports
• compile and write review reports
• Review reports comment on a school's performance and quality of education, including:  
• areas of good performance 
• where improvement is needed, with recommendations
• areas of national interest to the government, such as Māori student achievement
• compliance with legislative requirements

Skills & knowledge

Review officers need to have:

• knowledge of teaching theory and practice
• up-to-date knowledge of the New Zealand curriculum 
• knowledge of evaluation theory and practice
• knowledge of education structure, systems and trends
• knowledge of school administration and management
• an understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi
• an understanding of legal and compliance processes
• good  written, presentation and oral communication skills
• good relationship-building, leadership and teamwork skills
• problem-solving  and project-management skills
• skills in managing, analysing and interpreting data and information
• planning and organisational skills
• computer skills

Review officers also need to have an awareness and understanding of different cultures, and preferably have some knowledge of te reo Māori.

Entry requirements

To become a review officer you need to have a tertiary qualification, such as a Diploma of Teaching and/or a Bachelor's degree. Review officers often enter the job from senior teaching positions.

Secondary education

Qualifications, such as NCEA Level 3,are required to enter tertiary training (including teacher training).

Training on the job

Many skills are gained on the job, but regular in-service training courses are run by the Education Review Office (ERO). These courses include evaluation, report writing, tikanga and te reo Māori, computer skills, and relationship management. ERO supports review officers who want to gain a Postgraduate Diploma in Evaluation, if they are accepted for study.

Useful experience

Useful experience for review officers includes:

Related courses

Curriculum Studies
Education Administration
Te Matauranga Maori me te Whakangungu (Maori Education)
Teacher Education: Tertiary
Teacher Education: General (Pre-Service)
Teacher Education: Primary (Pre-Service)

For more information, please refer to Career Services.