Should the Education and Training Act be amended to create a new School Property Agency, move teacher standard-setting to the Ministry of Education, and tighten attendance exemptions?
The bill amends the Education and Training Act 2020 to establish a new Crown agent for school property, reassign several regulatory functions between agencies, and change rules on teacher standards, curriculum, school attendance, and assessment participation.
⚡ Taken under urgency
Parliament advanced this bill under urgency (first reading) — moving it through faster than usual, with less time than normal for public submissions.
MPs’ arguments for and against the bill
Why support it
Supporters argued a ministerial inquiry found the school property system was not fit for purpose, and a new Crown agent with a specialist board would improve focus, accountability, and asset management.
Supporters said survey and review evidence showed many graduate teachers felt underprepared, and shifting teacher standard-setting to the Ministry while giving the Teaching Council new powers to monitor training programmes would improve teacher quality.
Supporters argued that regular iterative curriculum updates, mandatory participation in international assessments like PISA, and clearer agency roles would make the system more consistent, coherent, and evidence-based.
Why oppose it
Opponents argued moving teaching standards, registration criteria, and the code of conduct from the Teaching Council to the Ministry would make them political instruments that shift with the government of the day rather than remaining set by an independent professional body.
Opponents said the bill centralises control of the curriculum in the Beehive and introduces a differentiated curriculum based on school size, location, and type, departing from a standardised national approach.
Opponents argued the reduction of the Teaching Council from 13 members to between seven and nine, with only three elected from the sector, tips the balance toward ministerial appointees and reduces the profession's voice.
These are claims MPs made in Parliament’s debate — not verified facts.
Full bill summary & link to official bill page
A wide-ranging Government bill that reorganises how New Zealand's school system is run. It creates a new Crown agent (an arm's-length government body) to manage school property, and shifts several regulatory jobs between agencies — for example, moving oversight of private schools, hostels and early childhood services to the Education Review Office. It also changes rules on teacher standards, the curriculum, school attendance, and participation in national and international assessments.
Notably, responsibility for setting teacher registration and conduct standards would move from the independent Teaching Council to the Secretary for Education, and principals' discretion to grant attendance exemptions would be tightened. The Government says the reforms clarify overlapping agency roles and lift school performance; some in the education sector have questioned shifting teacher-standard-setting away from the independent Teaching Council.
Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill · Third Reading, 23 Jun 2026 Parliament voted 67–55 — it passed. (Provisional — from Hansard’s uncorrected transcript.)