Education system reforms pass Third Reading in Parliament

Education Minister, Erica Stanford today marked a significant step towards reforming New Zealand’s education system with the passing of the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill at its Third Reading.

“The changes will enable system-level reforms to clarify roles and responsibilities across the sector, improve oversight and accountability, and ensure schools, teachers, and learners are better supported”, Ms Stanford says.

The legislative reforms include:

Establishing the New Zealand School Property Agency (NZSPA), as a Crown entity, to manage, plan, build, maintain and administer the education property portfolio by no later than 1 November 2026. 
Transferring the Ministry of Education’s regulatory functions for early childhood education (ECE), school hostels, and private schools to the Education Review Office (ERO) by no later than 1 November 2026.
Reforming the role of the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand, including shifting responsibility for setting professional standards to the Secretary for Education which includes standards and criteria for teacher registration, initial teacher education, ongoing practice, and the Code of Conduct. The safety of students becomes a priority for the Teaching Council through its core statutory role of teacher registration, competence and conduct oversight. The Council’s governance structure will now have 7-9 ministerially appointed members.

“A high performing education system depends on high quality teaching. These workforce reforms are informed by the latest evidence on the need to strengthen the confidence and readiness of our new teachers, as well as recent findings that show the need for a professional regulatory body that has a clear focus on protecting child safety and quality assuring teaching practice,” Ms Stanford says. 

The Bill strengthens curriculum regulatory settings by requiring a regular rolling cycle of curriculum area reviews. New minimum safeguards are introduced for reviewing and amending the curriculum, and schools will be required to provide parents with better health curriculum information.

The Bill also improves attendance exemption processes, mandates school participation in international education studies to strengthen evidence-based decision-making, strengthens the rules around use of physical restraint in school hostels, enables the recognition of micro-credentials, and provides greater flexibility for charter schools. 

Additional minor and technical changes have also been included to support the ongoing work to redesign the vocational education and training system.

“These reforms clarify who is responsible for what, reduce duplication, and enable our education agencies to work more effectively together. These changes should lead to better support for schools, kura, and early learning providers and better outcomes for students and their families,” Ms Stanford said.

The Bill is now due to receive Royal Assent, after which implementation will begin across agencies and the wider education system. ...