Annual Report 2017 — Part one

Section 19B reports

The Vote Education and Vote Tertiary Education Section 19B Reports in Relation to Non-Departmental Appropriations for the year ended 30 June 2017 were presented to the House in accordance with section 19B of the Public Finance Act 1989.

Vote Education Section 19B Report 2016-2017 [PDF, 417 KB]

Vote Tertiary Education Section 19B Report 2016-2017 [PDF, 520 KB]

Parts 2 and 3 of the Annual Report 2017

Download the full Annual Report 2017 to view:

  • Part 2 — Our performance information
  • Part 3 — Annual financial statements.

Annual Report 2017 [PDF, 1.3 MB]

Foreword from the Secretary for Education

The Ministry’s purpose is to shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes for children and young people. A strong focus on student learning and wellbeing underpins all our policy advice and the services we provide.

During 2016/17, a huge milestone for New Zealand’s education system was reached with the passage of the most significant update to education legislation in nearly 30 years. The Education (Update) Amendment Act 2017 presents the opportunity to publish a statement of National Education and Learning Priorities (NELP) to set out the Government’s priorities for the early childhood and compulsory schooling sector. The updated Act sets out the objectives of the education system, enhances the options for collaboration between education providers, and modernises our education system to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The Act also disestablished Careers New Zealand (CNZ) and created a refocused careers service within the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).

To promote collaboration and provide seamless pathways for children and young people’s learning we have supported the implementation of Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako bringing schools, early learning services and tertiary providers together where they form a pathway of learning. By 30 June 2017, 1,630 schools, 184 early learning services and four tertiary providers – across every education region – were part of a Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako.

During the year we have been working on other system changes to help create the right conditions for children and young people to progress and achieve. This included:

  • developing and testing a new model for learning support services. Changes are based on the recommendations of the 2016 Learning Support Update and are designed to provide a system that is easier to access, and more child-focused and efficient
  • developing draft Digital Technologies | Hangarau Matihiko content for the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa which comprise our National Curriculum for schools and kura. This was launched for consultation in June 2017 and is the biggest change to our curriculum in 10 years. This content is designed to help ensure young New Zealanders are digitally fluent for the future
  • redesigning the Professional Learning and Development (PLD) system to be more responsive to the needs of teachers, education leaders and students
  • promoting a systematic Positive Behaviour for Learning approach and providing practical resources on bullying to help improve children’s wellbeing and increase educational achievement
  • developing advice on replacing the current decile system as part of a new funding model for early learning and schooling. The aim is to have a new system that funds schools and, in due course, early learning services in relation to the needs of the individual students
  • developing, with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the Government's response to the Productivity Commission inquiry into New Models of Tertiary Education. This inquiry was the largest review of tertiary education in more than a decade, and the Government’s planned work in response sets a substantial work programme for coming years.

We continue to provide the sector with the core infrastructure, services and information they need. We are actively addressing roll growth in Auckland and since 2014 have delivered places for 8,978 students. We finished the year slightly ahead of schedule on our school property work supporting the Canterbury rebuild and also provided emergency support to schools following the North Canterbury earthquake in November 2016.

We continue to make more information available to support decision making:

  • helping students and their families know what options are available; and
  • enabling Ministers and the sector to better target effort and resources, nationally and locally.

Through all my engagements with staff and sector partners, since joining the Ministry in December 2016, I have been inspired and energised by their commitment to delivering equity and excellence in education. I want to thank everyone sincerely for their efforts during 2016/17. I am confident our combined efforts are helping shape an education system with high quality teaching, a strong local curriculum, personalised learning pathways, and transparency of progress and achievement toward equity and excellence for all children and young people.

Iona Holsted
Secretary for Education