1. Aims, objectives, and research questions New Zealand, a country of four million people, shares many of the features of other larger countries with respect to the preparation of teachers and the nature of education and schooling. In accord with other countries, the recruitment, preparation (becoming a teacher), and retention of teachers is the focus of increasing interest in New Zealand as agencies responsible for education struggle to address the apparent declining interest in teaching as a lifelong career. Moreover, the fact that the teaching population across all school levels within New Zealand is an ageing one, with a large group of teachers reaching retirement age over the next 10 to