Dear John --

Education is a priority for me.

I come from a family of teachers and I’ve seen first-hand the difference it makes in the lives of Kiwis, both young and older, and the endless opportunities a good education can provide.

What I’ve also seen in the Education space more recently under Labour is a dramatic return to a more centralised ‘Government knows best’ bureaucracy.

A good education system should always have students, parents, and teachers at its core. Not some bureaucrats in Wellington taking control from you.

In launching our Education Discussion document today, I wanted to lay down a few commitments and priorities we have in this space. We’re committed to:

• Smaller class sizes
• Strengthening teacher training
• Investing to ensure children with complex needs are supported
• Ensuring every child from year 1-8 has the opportunity to learn a second language
• Better management and investment in education infrastructure
• Restoring power and assets back to regional polytechnics and restoring industry training industry
• Ensuring we have a university in the top 50 university rankings by 2030
• Reinstating partnership schools

We are also asking for your feedback on:

• Creating a parent, child, teacher progress record (Child Passport)
• How we can strengthen monitoring and evaluation of early childhood education services
• Exploring alternatives to first year Fees Free
• How we can improve our reporting systems for schools and parents

A good education is a passport to greater opportunities and choice in life.

National values education, we value the work our teachers do, and we want to ensure our children are supported. We’re doing the work now so we’re ready to hit the ground running in 2020.

You can read our discussion document and have your say here

We hope you like it – but more importantly that you enter into the contest of ideas with your feedback.

Regards

Simon