The Education and Training Amendment Bill
The Education and Training Amendment Bill (the Bill) was introduced into the House on 21 April 2021 and has been referred to the Education and Workforce Committee for consideration. A copy of the Bill, and information on how you can make a submission to the select committee, can be found by clicking the link below.
Education and Training Amendment Bill(external link)
The Bill amends the Education and Training Act (the Act) to:
- keep some prescriptive detail in the Act rather than have these provisions automatically expire after a set period of time. It was intended to replace these provisions, which relate to National Student Numbers, school enrolment schemes and school boards, with regulations, but the Bill ensures they stay in the Act to recognise their importance;
- ensure that the Police vetting requirements work more effectively with the safety checking provisions in the Children’s Act 2014, so that children are safe when engaging in education;
- ensure tertiary education providers can’t charge trainees a fee relating to student services when they transfer to Te Pūkenga, the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology, for another year. This is to allow the Ministry to complete work relating to the fee that was disrupted due to COVID-19;
- specify the five education agencies that must comply with a statement of expectations relating to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The agencies are not named in the Act which has resulted in some uncertainty; and
- make a number of other minor and technical amendments to provisions in the Act.
The Ministry is also consulting on the Education and Training Amendment Bill No2. This contains more substantive proposals to amend the Act. These proposals can be found by clicking the link below.
Education and Training Amendment Bill No2 consultations(external link)
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