Making a submission#

Find out about making a submission on the select committee submission page.

Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill - New Zealand Parliament

What is proposed#

The Bill proposes a range of amendments to the Education and Training Act 2020, including:

• tightening attendance exemptions
• allowing sponsors to hold a single contract for multiple charter schools and providing a pathway for a converted charter school to be replaced by a new State school
• making changes to the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand’s role, including the transfer of certain responsibilities to the Secretary for Education and reducing the size of the Teaching Council
• clarifying the roles of the Ministry of Education and the Education Review Office when State schools are identified as being “of serious concern”
• transferring regulatory functions for private schools and school hostels from the Ministry to the Education Review Office
• establishing the New Zealand School Property Agency to manage the property of State schools, charter schools, and early childhood education and care centres that operate on Crown premises
• requiring the Secretary to do rolling curriculum area reviews on a regular basis, and providing for one type of curriculum statement only
• replacing the need for schools to consult with the school community about the school’s health curriculum with a requirement to inform the school curriculum
• requiring State schools, charter schools, and private schools to participate in studies that monitor the performance of our schooling system, including large-scale studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment
• adding micro-credentials in the reporting requirements for educational providers to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

Transferring ECE regulatory functions#

The Education and Workforce Committee is also seeking submitters views on the transfer of regulatory functions for early childhood education (ECE) from the Ministry of Education to the Education Review Office (ERO). This proposal is not currently in the Bill as it relied on the enactment of another piece of legislation (the Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Act 2025) which was enacted on 26 November 2025 and comes into force on 23 February 2026. The intention is that during the Select Committee process, this change will be made to the Bill. 

Education and Training (Early Childhood Education Reform) Amendment Act 2025