The Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation and the Education Summits

Key points

  • The Kōrero Mātauranga |Education Conversation is part of the Government’s undertaking to change the education system to make it fit for purpose in the 21st century, and to do this in collaboration with New Zealanders across the sector and the community.
  • This ongoing education conversation with New Zealanders will create a shared vision of the future of learning towards 2050, and inform the Government’s education work programme in the shorter term.
  • Around 25,000 New Zealanders have now participated in the Kōrero Mātauranga| Education Conversation in some way and taken the opportunity to let us know what they think either by attending the Summits, or other meetings, and completing surveys about the future of education.
  • It is an extensive process including fono, wānanga, meetings and online conversations across the country, and it is ongoing.
  • The Government signalled at the beginning of its term that it wanted to be inclusive and engage with a wide range of New Zealanders in the reviews that it had planned for the education system.  This includes engaging with priority groups – Māori, Pacific people, disabled people and families and whānau of children and young people with learning support needs, and students themselves.
  • The Education Summits in May 2018 were an important step in this collaborative undertaking, which includes the Kōrero Mātauranga| Education Conversation survey – this has gathered over 15,580 responses (at 14 September 2018) on the future of education and learning.
  • The model of engagement and the materials used at the Summits were designed to also support a number of other elements of the Education Work Programme – for example, the NCEA review meetings and workshops and fono and wānanga on the future of Pacific and Māori education
  • At the Summits, participants emphasised the importance of a learner–centred education system, the importance of equity and valuing all learners, and of a holistic approach to learning, which is more connected to the community and which integrates Māori and Pacific values into the curriculum.
  • The Government’s education work streams are now drawing on those ideas and suggestions to inform their work on the changes to the education system to meet the needs of all New Zealanders.
  • The Kōrero Mātauranga | Education Conversation is a unique opportunity to hear the voices of those most affected by how the system performs.
  • The Kōrero Mātauranga(external link) website provides information to the public about the Summits and other events, which enable people to feed their views into the work streams of the Government’s Education Work Programme.

The Education Summits – part of an ongoing Conversation

There were two Summit events, each two days, held in May 2018; one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. Around 1,400 participants (from 2,900 nominations) from across the country attended the two events. Participants contributed at least 13 hours over their weekends in a continuous programme over the two days of each event.

Participants discuss one of the themes of the Summit, in a small group.
Participants discuss one of the themes of the Summit, in a small group.

By seeking out a diverse range of people to be involved in the Summits and enabling them to take part in nation-wide conversations, the Government will gain a far greater understanding of what is important to New Zealanders about the future and vision for education for the next 30 years.

Important lessons in collaborative design were learnt from the Summits. The dialogue, themes and materials are being applied to all of the 19 key education reviews and consultations that are currently underway, and those in the future. They provide a foundation for all ongoing consultation, and are being used in regional and targeted conversations.

Through these reviews and consultations, the goal is to work with the education sector and the wider community to co-design the education system of the future.

Education Summit.
People provide their views on the most important values for the future of education.

An investment in the future of education – the cost of the Summits

Over four days, the two Summit events engaged educators, parents and whānau, Māori, Pacific people, children, young people and adult learners, communities, researchers, people with disabilities and disability organisations, employers and industry.

This is the first time that education events of this kind have been held in New Zealand. We took a different approach to get an open-ended and genuine exchange of ideas. Each event had a 13-hour programme, with a continuous series of discussions in small groups taking place over two days.

To ensure an inclusive discussion, we ensured that the venues and the proceedings were accessible for people from the disability community so they could fully participate. This included providing sign language interpreters and chaperones to assist some disabled people to navigate the venues and installing ramps for accessibility.

Thirty three people's time was spent over ten weeks (or 580 work days) to design and deliver the Summits and input into the ongoing Education Conversation.

Education Summits and Education Conversation Design
Development of the design of the Summits, including pre-engagement with stakeholders, and preparing materials to be used during the events and in the ongoing Conversation. $438,460
Christchurch Summit
Conference Delivery
- Management and facilitation.

$328,845
Conference logistics: management of registration, travel and accommodation $80,674
Venue hire, set up  and audio visual support:
The venue was a large open space. The engagement model required a set- up of more than 100 working spaces to capture as much information as possible, in a variety of ways.
$517,032

Attendees and speakers, travel, accommodation, catering and print materials

- Travel and accommodation was provided for approximately 70% of participants across the two summits.
- Regional participation was an important aspect of the Summit. People from across the country participated in the events.
- Food was available throughout the day, as there were no formal breaks across 13 hours of participation.

$457,305
Accessibility
New Zealand Sign Language interpreters and  translation of materials into te reo Māori
(Note: costs for student and disability chaperones are included under travel and accommodation and physical accessibility (ramps at venues) under venue set-up)
$29,276
Total Christchurch Summit $1,413,132
Auckland Summit 
Conference Delivery
- Management and facilitation.

$328,845
Conference logistics: management of registration, travel and accommodation $80,674
Venue hire, set up and audio visual support:
- The venue was a large open space. The engagement model required a set- up of more than 100 working spaces to capture as much information as possible, in a variety of ways.
$448,094

Attendees and speakers, travel, accommodation, catering and print materials

- Travel and accommodation was provided for approximately 70% of participants across the two summits.
- Regional participation was an important aspect of the Summit. People from across the country participated in the events.
- Food was available throughout the day, as there were no formal breaks across 13 hours of participation.

$396,331
Accessibility
New Zealand Sign Language interpreters and  translation of materials into te reo Māori
(Note: costs for student and disability chaperones are included under travel and accommodation and physical accessibility (ramps at venues) under venue set-up)
$14,306
Total Auckland Summit $1,268,250

Below you will find the key decision documents relating to the planning of the Education Summit. These are primarily reports or updates to the Minister of Education about the Summit:

Documents

  1. 20171215 Report: Refined proposal for the 2018 Summit series [PDF, 842 KB]
  2. 20180117 Agenda: Strategy meeting: Summit series and draft Cabinet paper [PDF, 741 KB]
  3. Undated Ministry of Education – Request for Quotation Education Summit Design and Delivery [PDF, 912 KB]
  4. 20180202 Report: Education Summit – progress since 17 January Strategy Session [PDF, 1.6 MB]
  5. 20180216 Briefing Note: Summits Update [PDF, 933 KB]
  6. Cabinet Paper – Education Portfolio Work Programme: Purpose, Objectives and Overview [PDF, 6.6 MB]
  7. 20180309 Briefing Note: Summit touchstone group names and finalised survey questions [PDF, 192 KB]
  8. 20180329 Briefing Note: Education Summit events update [PDF, 1MB]
  9. 20180503 Report: Education Summit Programme, Christchurch 5-6 May [PDF, 2.9 MB]
  10. 20180510 Report: Education Summit Programme, Auckland 12-13 May [PDF, 2.3 MB]
  11. Cabinet Paper – The Education Summit and the Education Conversation [PDF, 751 KB] | Kōrero Mātauranga: insights and integration across the Education Portfolio Work Programme [PDF, 598 KB]

Information withheld or deleted

Deletions have been made from the released documents under the following sections of the Official Information Act 1982:

  • Section 9(2)(a) to protect the privacy of natural persons.
  • Section 9 (2)(g) (i) to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or members of an organisation or officers and employees of any department or organisation in the course of their duty;
  • Section 18 (d) that the information requested is or will soon be publicly available:

In preparing this information release, the Ministry of Education has considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of the Official Information Act.

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