Education and Training Amendment Act 2023

The Education and Training Amendment Act 2023 makes important legislative changes for wānanga, early learning services and schools. It became legislation on 22 August 2023.

Find a copy of the Act on the Legislation website:

Education and Training Amendment Act 2023 – NZ Legislation(external link)

Key changes for early learning services

For early learning services, the Act:

  • allows the Ministry of Education to disclose service-level early childhood education data held by Statistics NZ to support development of a new Equity Index for early childhood education. The new Equity Index will enable equity funding to be better allocated to support children from low socio-economic backgrounds
  • clarifies police vetting of non-teaching employees and contractors by requiring employers to consider a police vet and assess any risk to children’s safety before an employee begins work or, in the case of a contractor, before they have unsupervised access to children. When carrying out risk assessments based on police vets, early learning services will need to take into account guidelines provided by the Ministry.

Police vetting for early learning services – Education in New Zealand

Key changes for schools and kura Māori

For schools and kura Māori, the Act:

  • defines school board eligibility requirements. It makes all those convicted of an offence in Schedule 2 of the Children’s Act 2014 ineligible to serve on a state school board unless an exemption has been approved by the Secretary for Education, and it enables the Secretary for Education to conduct audits on school board members to determine whether they meet eligibility requirements
  • strengthens school board election processes. It shifts the next mid-term board elections to November 2023 to restore the usual election cycle; it expands and modernises the language of school board member co-option and appointment criteria; and it enables schools to fill student representative roles that have not been filled during the September elections
  • restores the original position of kura kaupapa Māori as distinct from designated character schools in the Act
  • restricts the appointment of the chief executive of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu to a term of up to 5 years with the ability to reappoint for further terms. This change is consistent with the terms for chief executives of statutory Crown entities, tertiary institutions, and core government departments
  • clarifies police vetting of non-teaching employees and contractors by requiring employers to consider a police vet and assess any risk to children’s safety before an employee begins work or, in the case of a contractor, before they have unsupervised access to children.

Guidance for employers about risk assessments can be found on our website.

Risk assessments for police vets – Education in New Zealand

Key changes for tertiary and training providers

For tertiary education and training providers, the Act changes cover the:

  • reporting changes relating to Vice Chancellor and employee remuneration of $100,000 or above, and the administration of the Export Education Levy
  • removal of the consultation requirements relating to the appointment of senior staff at tertiary education institutions
  • amendment of the definition of ‘domestic student’ in the Act so that holders of a residence class visa studying overseas must satisfy criteria in the Education Regulations 2016 to be considered domestic students.

Key changes for wānanga

The Act establishes an enabling governing framework for wānanga that better recognises the unique role that wānanga play in our tertiary education system.

Wānanga Enabling Framework – Education in New Zealand

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