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Tomorrow's Schools Review
 
Video by Ministry of Education

Tomorrow's School Review

Stuart Cameron —

As many of you will be aware, the Minister of Education Chris Hipkins commissioned an independent task force to carry out a comprehensive review of Tomorrow's Schools. This is the term given to the reforms that dramatically changed the way our schools have been governed and managed over the last 30 years. 

The review took the form of a national Education Conversation and brought together a broad cross-section of our society with the aim of helping the Government develop a shared vision for what education could look like in our country.  This was an ambitious undertaking that saw over 200 meetings take place throughout the country.  At the end of this process, the independent task force produced a report entitled  Our Schooling Futures, Stronger Together l Whiria Ngā Kura Tūātinitini which has now been released for public consultation. 

A  summary report is also available.  An informative video outlining the main recommendations of the report can be found here. 

The report identified eight key areas that would have the biggest impact on the current New Zealand education system. Each of these areas has a number of recommendations associated with them.  The eight areas were:

  • Governance; 
  • Schooling Provision; 
  • Competition and Choice; 
  • Disability and Learning Support; 
  • Teaching; Leadership; 
  • Resourcing; and 
  • Central Government Agencies.

The recommendations contained in the report have the potential to overhaul how our schools operate in the future and would result in the biggest change to education for the last three decades. Feedback from the education sector has been very positive with many of the changes being perceived as an unprecedented opportunity for schools to be able to focus on teaching and learning rather than compliance and administration tasks such as property and finances. 

An online survey has been created to gather feedback about the report recommendations.  I would encourage all parents to engage with the materials above and take the opportunity to complete the survey.  This is your chance to have your say about how all kiwi kids will be educated in the future. 

Finally, I warmly invite you to come along to our working bee on Sunday 30 March (9am-12pm) to help us plant out a large area of the bank. As the saying goes many hands make light work so we would be extremely appreciative of some extra helpers on this day.  Please see the article for further details. 

Ngā mihi nui