NetNZ and VLN Primary, organisations that work across schools, welcome the government's intention to conduct a root and branch review of the education legislation, systems and funding including ‘Tomorrow’s Schools’.

We are hopeful that the review will lead to increased collaboration between schools and improved educational outcomes.

The workstream announced yesterday will also include amending the Communities of Online Learning (COOL) legislation.

Both NetNZ and VLN Primary are supportive of amending the legislation so that, as identified by the government, using registered teachers and teaching the national curricula will become compulsory for COOLs.

We also note that the government acknowledges that there is a place for online learning within the education system. NetNZ and VLN Primary have been leaders in the online learning of school aged learners for two decades and during that time have helped educate thousands of young people. We applaud the government’s future-focussed vision that includes making online learning a mainstream component of our education system.

We look forward to working with the government to ensure that online learning is both effective and well resourced and that the legislation and operational procedures for COOLs provide the greatest possible benefits to our member schools and their learners.

Background
NetNZ is a community of more than 60 secondary and area schools stretching across New Zealand Island who work together to provide online learning opportunities for their students based on the New Zealand Curriculum. We are a charitable organisation and are funded entirely by our member schools who are spread across New Zealand. This year we are running over 60 courses and have more than 800 students participating in NCEA Level 1, 2, 3 and Scholarship Mentoring programmes.

The Virtual Learning Network (VLN) Primary School is a collaboration of schools working throughout New Zealand with the aim of improving equity and access to educational opportunities for students through online learning. We coordinate and support many different virtual classes and projects that are run by teachers from our schools and through partnership with other organisations and expert teachers. Participation in the VLN Primary provides schools and whānau with a growing number of opportunities for students to access online learning. The VLN Primary School has approximately 1000 learners in 50 schools.

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