Principals Reject Removal Of Objectives For School Boards

Principals are urging the Government to retain all four core objectives in the Education and Training Act 2020, warning that proposed changes risk narrowing the purpose of education, and undermining the conditions that enable student success.

Currently, school boards must meet four equal objectives: achievement, safety, inclusion, and giving effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The proposed changes to Section 127 would replace these with a single "paramount objective" - to raise achievement - supported by several secondary objectives.

The amended section also introduces two new supporting objectives: to increase student attendance and to require boards to use high-quality assessment and aromatawai information to monitor progress.

Leanne Otene, President of the New Zealand Principals' Federation (NZPF), says the new version tilts the law too heavily towards compliance and performance measurement.

"We all want children to be successful learners, but that doesn't happen in a vacuum," she said. Attendance, assessment, safety, inclusion, and connection to culture all need to work together, and should be recognised equally by the law," she said.

"The Treaty is a constitutional foundation document and must remain independently visible in legislation" said Otene.

"Achievement should not be elevated above equity, identity, or safety," said Otene. "Boards need balanced legislative guidance that reflects the whole purpose of education, not just the bits that are easy to measure," she said.

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