The Education Ministry has got a "could do better" report on how it handles professional development.

The Controller and Auditor-General report Ministry of Education: Supporting Professional Development for Teachers made 11 recommendations around better documentation and analysis of money spent.

The report said information on professional development opportunities for teachers needed to be more coherent and the ministry could make better use of information it collects, including from providers.

The report said the ministry was working on improving management of its spending on professional development but said there did not appear to be a coherent strategy.

Also lacking were regular reviews of providers including reviews of value for money; whether it was facing high compliance costs or recovering money when services were not provided.