The Education and Training Amendment Bill (no. 3)
The Education and Training Amendment Bill (no. 3), which proposes important changes for Wānanga, early learning services and schools, has begun its passage through Parliament.
A copy of the Bill can be found by clicking the link below.
The Education and Workforce Committee has invited submissions on this Bill. Submissions can be made, until 11:59pm on 1 May 2023, by clicking the link below:
The Bill proposes important changes to the Education and Training Act 2020 (the Act) to establish an enabling governing framework for Wānanga that better recognises their mana and rangatiratanga, and the unique role that Wānanga play in our tertiary education system. Click the link below to find out more information about the framework for Wānanga:
The Bill also:
- makes persons who have been convicted of an offence under Schedule 2 of the Children’s Act 2014 ineligible to serve on a school board unless given an exemption by the Secretary for Education; and introduces a new function to allow the Secretary for Education to audit board members’ eligibility to be on a board. These new requirements better reflect the role school board members have in providing for a school to be a physically and emotionally safe place for students and staff by aligning the standards closer to that of teachers and other school staff
- updates school board election provisions with a one-off change to the next mid-term election date so it can be held in November 2023; expansion of school board member co-option criteria; and allowing schools to fill a student representative position that has not been filled through the September election
- allows the Ministry of Education to access early childhood education data from Statistics NZ to support development of a new early learning equity index
- separates Kura Kaupapa Māori and designated character school provisions to restore the pre-2017 position of Kura Kaupapa Māori in the Act
- clarifies that early learning service providers, school boards and managers of private schools are required to consider and assess police vets of non-teaching employees and contractors, and adults in home-based care premises, before they begin work or in the case of contractors have unsupervised access to children
- makes a range of minor or technical changes to improve governance and administration across schooling and tertiary sectors.
To view advice provided in relation to these Bills, please visit the Education and Training Amendment Bill (No.3) and Regulatory Systems (Education) Amendment Bill Proactive-release webpage.
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