What it takes to make a good teacher.
by Lesley Hoskin, as told to Penny Hartill.
This piece was first published in The Waikato Times & The Post on 20 August 2025.
Opinion: I left school at 15.
Not because I didn’t value education, but because I didn’t fit the system I was in.
It was a time when education was rigid, hierarchical, and built on the old “jug and mug” theory, where the teacher poured knowledge into passive learners. I didn’t fit that model. I was curious, questioning, and labelled disruptive as a result. I scraped through school certificate with 51% and assumed I wasn’t smart. It wasn’t until much later — after working across several sectors, completing postgraduate study, and thriving in cognitively demanding leadership environments — that I understood my potential had been hidden by a narrow system. I share this not for dramatic effect, but because it underlines something we don’t say often enough:
“Not everyone can be a teacher — and that’s not an insult. Teaching is cognitively, emotionally, and professionally complex. If we undervalue it, or oversimplify it, we do a disservice not only to teachers, but to every learner in Aotearoa.”
As Chief Executive of the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, I’m focused on ensuring educators are equipped with the right tools to meet the demands of the children and young people in front of them. That starts with teacher education that goes far beyond subject knowledge.
There’s still a popular myth that teaching is mostly about knowing your subject well, and that what we do in teacher education is explain how to deliver curriculum content. Those things matter, but they’re only part of the puzzle.
Initial teacher education is also about learning how to teach — how to understand where learners are at, and how to build the bridges that connect them to new knowledge. It prepares teachers to manage a complex learning setting, adapt to diverse learners, and support learners in transferring what they learn from working memory into long-term memory.
To do that well, teachers need to understand cognitive load theory—a foundational idea in cognitive psychology that says our brains can only process a limited amount of new information at once. Effective teachers manage that load deliberately.
They use chunking to break content into smaller, digestible parts. They apply interleaving to build flexible thinking and long-term retention. And they know when to review, when to pause, and how to gradually introduce complexity without overwhelming their learners.
It’s not about making learning easier. It’s about making it stick.
The best teachers spot gaps, respond in real time, and adapt as they go, all while staying attuned to their learners.
That’s why the Teaching Council defends high standards for teacher preparation. We support robust, evidence-based training that gives teachers both the methods and the mindset to teach well.
Of course, cognition doesn’t happen in isolation. Emotion, belonging, and identity all affect how children and young people learn. A tired or anxious learner will struggle, no matter how well the content is taught. Great teachers understand this. That’s why they create spaces where children and young people feel safe, respected, and included. Without that, learning is compromised.
Social connection and cognitive development are deeply linked. The best teachers know this instinctively. They build trust and use it to support deep, meaningful learning.
It’s time we stopped underestimating the complexity of teaching. If anything, we need to be clearer with the public about just how demanding, skilled, and adaptive this work is.
We must keep investing in high-quality preparation, protecting professional standards, and recognising that good teaching is both intellectually rigorous and relationally skilled.
Great teachers open doors, restore confidence, and give learners real choices about their futures.
“And while not everyone can be a teacher, everyone deserves one who can.”
Lesley Hoskin is Chief Executive of the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand.