Pushback grows over government education changes

Summarised by Centrist

The government is facing mounting resistance across multiple parts of the education sector, with criticism emerging over proposed homeschooling law changes and the process behind the rewrite of New Zealand’s school curriculum.

Home schooling groups are warning proposed amendments to the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill could give the Ministry of Education broad powers to impose future requirements on families educating children at home.

The National Council of Home Educators New Zealand said the late-stage amendments were introduced without meaningful consultation after the bill had already passed its second reading.

Government liaison Cynthia Hancox said the proposed wording could eventually allow officials to impose curriculum, reporting or assessment requirements under threat of families losing their home schooling exemptions.

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the changes were designed to protect children’s welfare after concerns were raised by the Education Review Office and Ministry of Education about some home schooled children potentially experiencing harm.

The number of home schooled students in New Zealand has nearly doubled since 2014 to around 10,000 children, while the Education Review Office currently reviews fewer than 1 per cent of cases.

At the same time, a former Ministry of Education curriculum staffer has lodged a formal complaint with Parliament’s regulations review committee over the government’s curriculum rewrite process.

Former ministry employee Claire Coleman alleged the process departed from the standards and procedures originally contemplated under the Education and Training Act.

Her complaint raises concerns about the use of artificial intelligence tools during curriculum development, as well as the involvement of Australian consultancy Learning First.

Coleman said Official Information Act documents showed AI had been used to “help generate and check content”, although the Ministry denied AI was used to generate curriculum material itself.

The complaint also questioned the lack of publicly available contracts or terms of engagement relating to the Australian consultancy’s role in shaping curriculum work.

Several teacher subject associations have also criticised the curriculum rewrite process in recent months, saying feedback from educators appeared to have been ignored and some draft material carried the hallmarks of AI-generated writing.

The Association of Teachers of English withdrew from the English curriculum drafting process earlier this year after expressing concerns about how the work was being handled.

The Ministry of Education said it was confident the curriculum refresh was being developed in line with the law and with input from teachers, subject experts and sector groups.

Read more over at 1News and RNZ

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