Foreword from the President
The Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill proposes a series of significant changes to the education system that encroach on our teachers’, principals’ and schools’ autonomy. This is not a collection of technical amendments. It is a fundamental reimagining of the relationship between government, educators, and communities; and it is the wrong vision.
The NZPF made a submission on the Bill and presented it to the select committee in January. We emphasised that the changes completely dismiss the freedom and flexibility needed in a high-performing education system and disregard the expertise and capability of our education professionals. We told them that this Bill represents significant ministerial overreach, and that we disagree with the direction.
The Bill covers seven areas, each of which we have thoroughly examined in our full submission. In brief, it is our view that:
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curriculum development must genuinely involve the education sector and be protected from political influence
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the Teaching Council, similarly, must be a democratically elected professional body, not a ministerially appointed ‘working group’
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attendance decisions should be made by principals who know their students and communities, not by centrally-imposed rules that cannot account for cultural context and individual circumstances
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a blame-focused approach to identifying struggling schools (i.e. ‘schools of serious concern’) won’t deliver any meaningful improvements for schools or communities
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charter school conversion and reconversion decisions should rest solely with school communities, not corporate sponsors or unconstrained ministerial discretion
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a School Property Agency could be a good thing, but only with adequate safeguards to protect under-resourced schools and honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi
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schools should decide what system monitoring activities they participate in.
We’ve included a summary table of these areas so you can get up to speed with where we stand and what we’ve said. I encourage you to read the relevant sections of our full submission to get a better understanding of our position and recommendations to the select committee. You can find it on the NZPF website.
It’s important to bear in mind that the Bill isn’t legislation yet – it’s a collection of proposals from the Government that still need to go through the democratic process. Have a look at the flowchart on page 11 after our summary tables on pages 8 and 9 if you’re unfamiliar with what that involves. We’ll be updating you on progress and will be continuing to push for our changes throughout the next stages.
The Government didn’t give us a lot of time for this. The Education and Training (System Reform) Bill was put out in late November without any warning despite its wide-reaching implications, and public feedback was expected by mid January. The Government opened a very narrow window over the holiday period – that in itself is very telling to me.
The NZPF works hard to advocate for you, our members, and this submission is exactly what that looks like. We will stand up to the Government and other influences when it matters and we won’t stand down if we’re told to. Our credibility is in our collective; this power comes from all of you.
He waka eke noa. We are in this together.
Jason Miles, NZPF President