Annual Report 2018

The Annual Report 2018 outlines the Ministry’s key achievements over the past year and details progress against our long term outcomes. It includes non-financial performance information and the Ministry’s financial statements.

A copy of the full report is available for download, along with the Vote Education and Vote Tertiary Education Section 19B reports in Relation to Non-Departmental appropriations for the year ended 30 June 2018.

Foreword from the Secretary for Education

Full Annual Report 2018 and Section 19B reports

Foreword from the Secretary for Education

The New Zealand education system is highly regarded by many people, both here and abroad, however there is no room for complacency. We know that outcomes for Māori and Pacific tamariki and rangatahi, and children and young people with disabilities, continue to be disproportionately poor compared to those of their peers. The system needs to change to respond to this. The system also needs to keep pace with the rapidly changing future of work. The Ministry’s stated purpose is to shape a system that delivers excellent and equitable outcomes, and our work during the past year has been centred on this.

The Ministry is leading extensive public engagement on the future of education through the Education Conversation | Kōrero Mātauranga, which will help inform all aspects of the Government’s Education Work Programme. As part of this, 1,400 people participated face to face at two Summits in Christchurch and Auckland, and over 14,000 people have contributed online.

Through this Kōrero, New Zealanders are telling us that an equitable and excellent education system grows good citizens, who are critical thinkers, and who participate ethically in society in relation to the environment and the economy. It is a system where teachers, learners, whānau, employers and communities work together, with tamariki and whānau at the centre, to raise and reach high aspirations. It is a system that sees every child as a taonga, and which nurtures their hauora | wellbeing and values their identity, language and culture.

While we have been working on the big policy questions, we are continuing to strengthen and improve the existing system. The continuing roll-out of a new Learning Support Delivery Approach is providing whānau of many children with learning support needs with access to better coordinated services.

We have implemented initiatives that support Māori and Pacific students to progress and achieve in culturally responsive environments, such as the Te Rāngai Kāhui Ako ā-Iwi pilot to strengthen Māori-medium education, and the Pacific PowerUp programme that de-codes National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA).

In response to the new Government’s policy to make access to tertiary education more equitable, we worked with the Tertiary Education Commission, the Ministry of Social Development and Inland Revenue to deliver first-year fees-free tertiary education in the first hundred days of the new Government. This cross-agency work was recognised with the Prime Minister’s 2018 Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ) award for public sector excellence.

Looking to the future of work, the Ministry worked closely with the profession and others to develop a Digital Curriculum | Hangarau Matihiko, which schools are progressively adopting between now and 2020. We are supporting the roll-out of the new curriculum content with a comprehensive package of resources and professional learning and development, for both English and Māori-medium.

To ensure we are well positioned to achieve our purpose we have been reviewing our organisational strategy and how we do things (our operating model). Feedback received through the operating model review process has helped us identify areas of strength, as well as areas where we can do better. During 2017/18, we agreed five strategic priorities that express how the Ministry will need to evolve to fulfil our purpose. These are:

  • Lead the design for future education.
  • Lead the development of an education workforce strategy for early childhood and schooling.
  • Embed continuous improvement.
  • Adopt optimal service delivery.
  • Invest to support access to learning.

These changes are backed up by ongoing improvements in our organisational capability. To support a focus on equity and excellence, we are strengthening our capability to acknowledge, talk about and address issues relating to race and bias.

I am proud of the way the Ministry has continued to deliver day-to-day services, while implementing key new initiatives and adopting new ways of working. It has also been really pleasing to see that our work has been valued and well regarded by others too.

I want to thank the staff of the Ministry and our key partners for all their efforts which are helping to shape an education system that will deliver equitable and excellent outcomes for all New Zealanders.

Iona Holsted
Secretary for Education

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