Update of the Education Act 1989

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Overview of presentation

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This slideshow covers:

• The Education Act 1989 and why it needs to be updated

• Matters not covered in the consultation

• An outline of the five proposals we’re seeking your input on

• Information about the consultation on the update to the Education Act 1989.

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The Education Act 1989

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• Determines what matters in education

• e.g. establishes the right to free primary and secondary education.

• Tells everyone in education what they are supposed to do

• e.g. sets out a fair process for managing student behaviour.

• Supports schools, kura and early learning services to create effective environments for learning and achieving• e.g. sets standards for the safety and quality of the

teaching profession.

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Why update the Act?

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The Act is no longer doing the job it was designed to do. It needs to:

• Make it clear in law that raising the achievement of children and young people comes first

• Set a clear direction for education

• Make it easier for schools, kura, Communities of Learning and early learning services to collaborate and innovate

• Help parents, whānau and communities understand why certain decisions are made about education.

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What’s covered in the Update?

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What’s not covered under this consultation

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Matters that are not part of this consultation include: 

• Tertiary education sector

• Self management of schools/kura

• Recent government initiatives such as National Standards, Partnership Schools, IES and the Education Council

• Changes that would increase government spending on education

• Content of Te Whāriki (Early Childhood Curriculum), The New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

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Making sure everyone knows the goals for education

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The Act should have:

• A clear set of goals for education to describe our

aspirations for children and young people.

• A process for setting a national priorities statement for

early learning and schooling.

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Supporting boards to focus on what’s important

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The Act can support boards to focus on what’s important by:

• Making their roles and responsibilities clearer

• Improving the way they plan and report• Reduce red tape• Enable collaboration

• Developing a set of important indicators and measures to report on

• Giving more freedom and extra decision-making rights to schools, kura and Communities of Learning that are doing well

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Enabling collaboration, flexibility and innovation

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We want to know what you think about:

• What other alternative governance arrangements could be available

• Making it easier for schools to introduce cohort (group) entry

• Making attendance at school compulsory once children have started school before they turn six.

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Making every school and kura a great one

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Some more options could be put in the Act to help schools and kura get back on track.

For example:

• a performance notice

• a specialist audit

• asking a board to have different people on it

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Making best use of local education provision

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We want to make it easier for schools, kura and communities to understand why changes are being made to schooling arrangements by:

• Having a clearer process for area strategies in the Act

• Creating some guiding principles for opening, merging and closing schools

• Fine-tuning the way enrolment schemes are managed.

Wrap up

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Wrap up

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What’s happening:

• The consultation runs from 2 Nov to 14 Dec 2015.

• Workshops/hui/fono are occurring all over the country, check out www.education.govt.nz/education-act-update

• You can make an online submission at consultation.education.govt.nz

• A final report with an analysis of the feedback will be available on the Ministry’s website in the New Year.