Photo by Cyrus Crossan on Unsplash
It’s a hectic time for educators, with the first week of Term 4 coinciding with the election period. Some may have cast advance votes in preparation for Term 4, but given recent polling, some may still be undecided. Educators with a moment to spare may wish to research party policies for themselves using this election policy tool. Others with older ākonga might even be able to incorporate this election, and each party’s policies, into a learning opportunity.
Read the Term 3 edition of School News HERE
But for those without a moment to spare, School News has a summary and a break-down of each party’s major education policies, as well as any commentary from leading colleagues on the matter. As well as being a major focus of this election, education is also the third biggest area of government spending. And depending on election outcomes, these policies may well affect how educators and colleagues do their jobs – and with what resources – for the next government term and beyond.
Below, School News breaks down the What, How and Why of each party’s education election promises.
What: Extend 20 hours free ECE to 40,000 two-year-olds.
Why: “The early years of a child’s life are critical, and we are committed to supporting families during this time by reducing financial pressures and improving access to quality education.”
What: Increase subsidies to ECE centres.
Why: Ease fees pressure.
What: More comprehensive and regular compliance checks on teacher employers.
Why: Ensure available funding reaches teachers.
What: Reduce student-staff ratio in Years 4 – 8 from 29:1 to 28:1 by 2025.
How: “Develop a long-term plan for staffing and resourcing of schools to keep up with changing needs and the modernisation of best practice.”
Why: “Labour will work towards the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory Group on staffing.”
What: Raise numeracy and literacy attainment nationwide.
How:
Why:
What: Require financial literacy to be taught in schools from 2025
How: Financial literacy skills will follow the model used to roll out New Zealand histories curriculum. The programme will likely be delivered through maths and social sciences subjects where there are existing resources, pending consultation with the sector. Essential learning outcomes will be set at different year levels.
Ensure that this is not an extra demand on teachers by creating access to exisitng programmes, partnerships and support at the curriculum centre at the MoE.
Why: Evidence shows current financial literacy in Aotearoa is inconsistent, and that most young people wish they’d learnt more about money at schools. Students will develop core competencies around:
What: Continue free period products for schools and Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunches
How: “Labour will commit $650 million to continue [free lunches] at nearly 1000 schools and kura through the next term of Government.”
Why: Remove barriers to education.
What: Continue Learning Support Coordinator rollout
How: Support will begin with Specialised Learning Support Coordinators in Kaupapa Māori and Māori medium education. Continued rollout working toward aspiration of one LSC for every 500 students. Improve funding and workforce capacity for LSC rollout.
Why: Highest Needs Review has recommended improvements to improve education equity for students with additional learning needs.
“We will implement the recommendations of the Highest Needs Review to enable all students to achieve their potential at their local school… Labour is committed to implementing a new comprehensive, fairer, more student-centred, integrated and inclusive system of quality support in all schools.”
What: Increase youth engagement and attendance
How:
What: “Continue to invest in learning support modifications to school buildings for students with special needs, including automatic doors, lifts, fencing, hoists and bathroom modifications.”
What: Improve development and retention of principals.
How:
What: Ensure rainbow students feel safe and accepted in learning environments
How:
What: Expand Te Reo Māori education programmes
How: “Develop a comprehensive strategy to promote and support the teaching and learning of Te Reo Māori in early childhood education, through professional development and training, teaching resources and support for Māori language immersion programmes.
“Continue expansion of Te Ahu o Te Reo… revamp the Māori medium and Kaupapa Māori pathways programme so that more Māori tamariki are reconnected with their language and culture.”
Why: Revitalise Te Reo Māori by ensuring all children have the opportunity to learn Te Reo Māori.
What: Investigate support for Wānanga
How: “Consider, with providers, the establishment of a framework that protects their unique status [of tauira]… reinforce the importance of Māori boarding schools.”
Why: “To provide the pastoral and cultural care to assist Tauira to achieve success at pre degree level [and] train a new generation of Māori leaders.”
What: Ensure that career services are available to Māori students
Why: “We know that it can be a big step to transition from education to work. Labour will ensure… that [Māori students] are getting the best advice for life after education.”
What: Ensure curricula of schools reflects the tikanga and pūrakau of their local iwi and hapū.
How: “Continue to work with iwi and hapū to ensure their local tikanga and pūrakau are reflected within the school curriculum in their rohe.”
Why: To “promote understanding of Māori culture from an early age.”
Sources:
What: Ban mobile phone use in schools
How: Through the whole school day phones will be “off and away”. Schools decide how to enforce the ban. Parents will be able to contact children through the school office; exceptions to the ban will be made for students with health conditions or special circumstances.
Why: “To turn around falling achievement, students need to focus on their schoolwork during their precious classroom time. That means doing what we can to eliminate unnecessary disturbances and distractions.”
What: Minimum class-time mandates for reading, writing and maths
How: An hour of maths and two hours of reading and writing will be required every day in primary and intermediate schools.
Share best-practice guidance with schools on timetabling to meet these requirements.
Why: Reverse trends of declining literacy and numeracy in New Zealand.
“There is currently too much variation between how much time different schools spend teaching the basics. This inconsistency embeds inequalities that disadvantage the most vulnerable children.”
What: Rewrite primary and intermediate school curriculum.
How: Include clear requirements about specific knowledge and skills primary and intermediate schools need to teach for each school year in reading, writing maths and science.
Why: National believes the current curriculum is too vague, broad and spans too many school years. Lack of annual progress outcomes allows some students to fall behind. Believe a clearer and more detailed curriculum will “challenge and empower learners, support teachers, and ensure every child makes consistent progress.”
What: More standardised testing and reporting for primary and intermediate students in reading, writing and maths.
How:
Why: “Ensure parents know how their child is progressing, where they might need help, and where they can be extended.”
Assessment is “powerful tool for ensuring progress” and equips teachers and caregivers to understand their child’s learning.
What: Achievement targets for students
How: Aim to have 80 percent of Year 8s at or above expected curriculum level at their age for reading, writing and maths by 2030, as measured by the University of Otago’s National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA).
National also aims for NZ students to be in the top 10 for maths, reading and science in international PISA rankings by 2033.
What: Better training and more tools for teachers.
How:
Why: Reduce teacher workload and ensure teaching consistency. Ensure teachers can demonstrate expertise in reading, writing, maths and science instruction, and ability to use assessment to lift achievement.
What: Mandated structured literacy approach
How:
Why: “In 2021, New Zealand recorded its lowest ever score in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) that measures the reading ability of Year 5 students… New Zealand’s own NMMSA shows 37 percent of Kiwi kids are behind reading expectations at Year 4, with 44 percent behind by Year 8.
“Structured literacy teaches children in an explicit and systematic way that aligns with the science of how our brains learn best, starting with the smallest units of sound (phonemes) and building up from there. Some schools have already adopted structured literacy with great success. National believes all children should have access to this proven method.”
Sources:
What: Increase funding for community-run ECE, kindergartens and kōhanga reo, working toward universal, public and free ECE.
What: Improve working conditions and staff-to-student ratios at all levels of education, from ECE to high-school.
What: Resource universal teaching of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in all public schools and support rangatiratanga aspirations of Kura Kaupapa Māori, Kura a iwi, Kōhanga reo and Wananga.
What: Provide education on health relationships, managing emotions and affirmative consent in all schools.
Why: Combatting our high rates of intimate partner violence, sexual violence and child abuse.
What: Ensure adequate support for students with disabilities and additional learning needs
What: Create school hubs with on-site health and social services, including mental health support.
What: Ensure schools are accessible by foot and bike
How: “Create safe walking and biking routes for every school through more pedestrian crossings and lower speed limits near schools.”
Why: “Our towns and cities can be places where everyone can move around using affordable, climate-friendly buses and trains, by bike, or walking.”
What: Address racism and discrimination in schools
How: Increase children’s belonging and cultural connection through social cohesion and inclusion programmes at all schools.
Why: Green party wants Aotearoa to be “the best place in the world to grow up,” but believes tamariki are missing out in their crucial years leading to long-term consequences for wellbeing.
What: Require civics education in schools and supporting lowering the voting age to 16.
Why: “The time is now to create a more representative democracy.”
What: Expand Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy lunches in schools programme.
How: Funding will come from the Greens’ proposed wealth tax to expand the programme to 135,000 more children. All schools with an equity index of 540 will be covered from 2024, covering over 400 more schools.
Why: Removing barriers to education, easing cost of living, creating jobs in local economies. Co-leader Marama Davidson says it’s “the right thing to do”.
Source:
What: Ensure all schools participate in standardised testing.
What: Extend the B4 school check to include education progress as well as health; ECE providers which consistently fail will risk losing funding or license.
What: Set minimum criteria for any curriculum taught in NZ primary schools, allowing for multiple versions.
How: MoE to approve curricula based on the following criteria:
What: Develop online league table like Australia’s ‘My School’.
Why: to help parents understand their school’s performance compared to others.
What: Enforce higher literacy and numeracy standards from 2025.
How: Conduct mock exams in 2024 to gauge progress on higher literacy and numeracy.
What: Abolish UE as separate qualification.
How: Replace NCEA Level 3 requirements with current UE requirements.
What: Increased employer and tertiary provider input to achievement and unit standard development.
What: Establish a fund for excellent teachers.
How:
Why: Current pay system limits rewarding of teaching excellence, inhibiting incentives for continued professional growth and meeting the needs of schools.
What: Reform MoE.
How:
Why: “The Ministry has increased its full-time equivalents by 55 percent, its powers over schools are extensive, yet educational outcomes are worse than ever. Schools are not just being told what to do, they are being told how to do it.”
What: Repeal new school curriculum
Why: The ACT party believes that the curriculum offers an inaccurate and superstitious version of science and that the curriculum is too ideological.
What: Re-establish Partnership Schools
How: Bring back partnership school model and enable public schools to apply for conversion to a partnership school under the following requirements:
Why: “The cookie-cutter public school model restricted the ability for schools to innovate and deliver different models of education.
“Not all partnership schools were a success, but unlike public schools, struggling partnership schools were subject to high levels of monitoring and accountability and were shut down when they did not achieve the outcomes they were funded to achieve.”
What: Enable schools to opt out of NCEA
How: Fund NCEA at the same rate as alternative internationally recognised qualifications such as International Baccalaureate and Cambridge.
Why: Increase competition and choice in schools; determine if NCEA is fit for purpose.
What: Improve attendance
How:
What: Provide every child with independent fund for education.
How:
Why: Ensure NZ schools are responsive to parental demand rather than “political orthodoxy”.
What: Reform process for failing schools.
How:
Why: Parents and children should be able to access more choice in schools and have access to high performing schools. Current system mishandles failing schools, creating education inequality.
Sources:
What: Increase kaupapa Māori education funding.
How:
Why: “Kaupapa Māori education is under-resourced, undervalued and remains marginalised in the education system.”
What: Make Te Reo Māori and Māori history core subjects until Year 10.
How:
What: Improve educational equity for Māori ākonga.
How:
Why: Te Pāti Māori wants to overhaul mainstream education to support equity for ākonga Māori utilising lessons learned from Māori medium education models.
Māori are also disproportionately affected by disability, neurodiversity and learning differences, with 26 percent of Māori identifying as disabled in 2013.
What: Establish an authority to oversee Māori language funding and audit providers.
Why: Ensure providers meet cultural and reo Māori competency standards.
What: Create more pathways for school-leavers.
How:
Why: There are too few pathways for well-paid employment that don’t include tertiary education. Just 13.5 percent of rangatahi Māori were not in employment, education or training (NEET), twice the rate recorded for European and Asian youth in June 2020.
Sources:
What: Remove gender and sexuality education from the curriculum.
Why: “Restore education and stop indoctrination”.
What: Enforce compulsory education.
Why: Combat declining attendance.
What: Ensure Plunket is adequately funded.
What: Education treated as investment, not expenditure.
Why: “Educational investment is critical for economic and social recovery”.
Source:
What: Remove left-wing ideologies from education.
How:
What: Promote alternatives to state schools.
How:
What: Empower parents and local communities to drive education.
How:
Sources:
What: Build a new primary and secondary school in North-West Christchurch.
Why: “TOP leader and Ilam candidate Raf Manji… believes a suite of investments are needed to complete the rebuild program and deliver key services residents can be proud of.
These investments focus on healthcare, transport, policing, heritage and education.”
What: Expand civics education.
How: This policy is an offshoot of the party’s TEAL card policy, which would give under 30s free public transport, healthcare and more if they complete a National Civics Education programme before 23.
Why: “This program is about future-proofing New Zealanders to become more resilient citizens through a focus on the 4 C’s: Conservation, Civil Defence, Community Service and Civics.”
What: Encourage facilitated play approach in early years of schooling.
Why: “Build curiosity in children and youth”
What: Improve quality of professional development for teachers.
How: Unknown
What: “Offer fair pay for all teachers, increase funding for teaching assistants and improve specialist support in schools”.
What: Encourage structured literacy in schools.
How: Invest in the programme, including establishing accredited training providers for teachers
What: “Give direct cash support to parents for help with early childcare & education.”
What: “Implement a contracting model for ECE that requires the government to award contracts based on the quality of service provision, with a focus on child and community centered outcomes.”
Source:
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