Tēnā koutou katoa. Welcome. It’s a pleasure to be here today to talk about my first Budget as Education Minister.

I am honoured to be here with so many people dedicated to ensuring young New Zealanders get the best education and the best opportunity to be successful. Your passion and drive can literally change the course of lives. You can inspire our future leaders, entrepreneurs, explorers and artists with what you do every day.

I want to acknowledge my ministerial colleagues Louise Upston and Tim Macindoe who will be working closely with me in the months to come on ensuring we have an education system that delivers young New Zealanders who can read, write, do maths, be digitally fluent, are healthy and well rounded.

A budget for growth meeting the needs of a growing, diverse nation

We need to be prepared to invest in a growing education system, both in terms of population and diversity.

New Zealand’s population has been growing at a high rate, reflecting the country’s strong economic performance. More New Zealanders are having children, more New Zealanders are choosing to stay here or are coming home, and others are coming to our shores seeking a better life. Part of the Government’s investment in education this Budget responds to this growth, funding more teachers and more learning.

Part of this Budget is also about responding and investing in a more diverse New Zealand. We know that with a more diverse country it is important that we invest in language.

We also know that by investing early and in a more targeted way we can make a larger difference to children and young people. The Government is taking a social investment approach across a range of social services including education. In education, by providing more targeted funding to those children who have more complex education or social needs, we can reduce barriers to learning and improve the lives of young New Zealanders.

The Education Budget also needs to be understood in the context of the rest of the Budget and investment over several years, where there are significant investments to assist some of our most vulnerable children in terms of health and social services. When we deliver free doctors’ visits and we assist with social housing this can help young people learn more.

Budget figures – the overall package

So let’s look at the numbers.

This is a significant Budget for education. It sees the largest injection of new money into education since this Government took office in 2008, of nearly $1.5 billion dollars over four years. It shows just how committed we are to the transformative work that’s already taking place and how invested we are in improving the lives of children and young people.

Budget 2017 sees $1.1 billion in new operating funding over the next four years and $392.4 million in capital funding.

This investment brings the annual Vote Education funding to the highest level ever at $11.6 billion in 2017/18 – up by around 41% from 2008/09.

Funding for early learning

For our youngest learners in early learning, Budget 2017 provides new funding to support the growing number of children starting their education before school. We have seen a significant lift in the number of children participating in early learning as part of the previous Better Public Service challenge.

This is really important as we know that children get the best start to their education when they’re in quality early learning.

So Budget 2017 provides $350.5 million in operating funding over four years, plus an extra $74.3 million in 2016/17.

But what is very significant about the funding this year is the next figure. Budget 2017 provides $35.5 million over four years for early learning providers with high numbers of children from benefit-dependent households.

Social Investment theory in practice

This is about what is at the heart of the Government’s social investment programme – the idea that we can do a much better job of identifying and responding to needs in the community. We have particularly focused on using and understanding the data around disadvantage, so that we can put our resources to their best effect.

One of the key lessons from this work has been that there are three risk factors which are strongly correlated with poor educational achievement and life outcomes for children later in their lives. These factors are:

whether a child has ever been notified to Child, Youth and Family whether a child has been stood down or suspended from school, and whether a child has spent more than 50% of their life in households supported by welfare.

Children are much more likely to have poorer quality lives, where they have more than one risk factor. For example,

a young person who has no risk factors and achieves less than NCEA Level 2 will cost the taxpayer on average $13,500 in welfare and corrections expenses between the ages of 18 and 25 a young person with two risk factors and less than NCEA Level 2 will cost the taxpayer $57,600 on average, and a young person with three risk factors and less than NCEA Level 2 will cost the taxpayer on average $82,900.

 Although we in Government often talk about ‘social costs’ and boil these down to financial numbers, it’s important not to lose track of what these figures stand for.  They’re not just dollars and cents in the Government’s books; they are measures of misery. They represent dramatically narrowed opportunities and lower-quality lives for our young people. Our investments are squarely aimed at widening opportunities and improving life outcomes.

In Budget 2016, we took the first steps in better targeting our education resources by introducing the Targeted At Risk Grant, which gave schools additional funding for each child who had spent significant proportions of their lives in benefit-dependent households. This Budget, we are continuing and extending this model to early childhood.

$35.5 million will go to around 2000 services out of around 4,400 licenced services. Those services will be able to use this new money for activities that improve opportunities for children at risk of under-achievement. This could include hiring more teachers, providing transport to and from services, more professional learning and development for staff, supporting the service to be part of a Community of Learning, increasing the time staff can spend talking to parents about their children’s progress or reducing fees for low-income families.

In total the increases will bring spending on early childhood education subsidies to around $2 billion per year in 2020/21.

Increased funding for schools

Moving along the education pathway to schools.

Budget 2017 responds to growing school rolls with $170.6 million to meet growing demand for primary education and $227.8 million to meet the growing demand for secondary education.

I am very pleased to confirm that all state and state-integrated schools will receive a universal increase in their operations grant funding this year. All schools will receive a 1.3% increase to help address cost pressures.

And, I have more good news. On top of the universal increase to operations grant funding, we are also continuing to target additional funding for schools with students at greater risk of not achieving due to disadvantage. We are increasing the funding rate for the Targeted At Risk Grant component by an additional 2.67% bringing the total increase for this component of the operational grant to 4 per cent.

Overall we are adding an extra $60.5 million over four years to operations grant funding.

All this builds on the spending on operational grants in 2016 which saw around $1.42 billion distributed to schools across the country.

Intervening earlier and more effectively

Learning Support is another area of funding where we’re introducing a social investment approach - identifying and responding to learning needs earlier. Put simply, if you do poorly in school in your first years, you are very likely to do poorly later on. We want to intervene earlier to deal with issues – such as behaviour problems - that can make it difficult to learn, so that all children have the best chance of success.

Through Budget 2017, we are taking steps to shift our efforts earlier in children’s lives, so that we can have a better chance of putting them onto positive and sustainable achievement paths:

We will be investing $4.2 million to introduce a specialised Incredible Years programme for parents and teachers of children aged 2-5 who are autistic. These children often have behaviours such as hyperactivity, inattention, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, sleep disturbances, aggression, and self-injury. Incredible Years is a well-established and evidence-based programme which helps to prevent, reduce, and treat behavioural and emotional issues in young children. As already announced we will be spending $6 million to introduce the international ABC and Beyond programme in a selection of early learning services, to identify and resolve speech language difficulties in pre-schoolers. Speech language problems early in life make it harder for children to learn. ABC and Beyond brings speech language therapists together with early childhood teachers, to train them to recognise speech language issues and use teaching practices to respond. The speech language therapists will also be able to provide specialist help, where this is required. We will be expanding the Ministry of Education’s early intervention and severe behaviour services at the cost of $34.7 million over four years, to provide assistance to an additional 1,000 children a year, primarily aged 3 to 8.

Because the Government believes strongly in effectiveness and evidence-based policy, funding for all of these programmes has been made conditional on having robust evaluations in place, so that we can know that we are getting value for your money.

It’s important that I point out that as we start to move our efforts to earlier in children’s lives, we need to continue to provide support for those later in life with additional learning needs. In Budget 17, we are providing:

$15.5 million over four years to increase the number of students receiving five hours a week of in-class teacher aide support to 4,000 from 2018/19 and $2.9 million over four years to maintain the delivery of specialist services, including cochlear implant habilitation, early intervention services accessible format materials and increase the specialist teaching outreach service.

$18.3 million is also being provided to meet increasing demand for existing learning support services.

Investing in school property

This Government has spent the largest amount ever on school property, with more than $5 billion going into building brand new state of the art schools, school expansions, new learning spaces and roll growth classrooms, and fixing the poor state that our school buildings were in when we took office in 2008.

Overall average utilization of schools in New Zealand has dropped since 2008 despite an increase in the overall population.

We are not only investing in today’s growing communities but in future growth as well across New Zealand. In particular in Auckland we are looking 10 to 30 years ahead to ensure we’re ready and prepared for that future growth. This means the Government is getting ahead of growth, delivering 21,000 extra student places in Auckland from 2014-2021.

We are also making significant investments in other growing areas. In Budget 2016 this included around $35 million in the Waikato, $40 million in Southland and Otago, and $23 million in Tauranga and the Coromandel. These investments are funding a new school for each region, along with the expansions, redevelopments and roll growth classrooms needed to ensure our property network will meet the needs of a growing population.

Budget 2016 was a record breaking amount for capital investment under this Government. In that Budget we provided $128 million for Canterbury schools to continue the extensive rebuild and repair work following the Christchurch earthquake. It also covered the 25-year investment in five schools being built as part of a Public Private Partnership – an approach that we are not taking for the new schools being funded in this Budget.

Budget 2017 is focused on preparing for fast-growing communities and growing student numbers with significant investments in new schools and classrooms. This is particularly the case in Auckland, where much of the country’s population growth has been concentrated. The Government is also committed to modernising our school network, replacing older assets with newer, more flexible and fit-for-purpose buildings.

Budget 2017 provides $392.4 million in capital funding over the coming four years.  This will fund new teaching spaces to benefit over 7,000 children, including:

6 new schools 2 school expansions 305 classrooms 11 special education satellite units 2 special education school relocations onto a new site, and land purchases.

Supporting quality teaching and learning

So far I have talked a lot about the funding for student numbers, investing earlier to make a difference and property, but we know from the evidence that the quality of teaching and learning resources is critical for achievement. The Government has put in place policies to strengthen quality teaching and learning over successive years.

In this Budget, we are providing $5.2 million over four years to support the continuation and expansion of the innovative, employment-based Teach First New Zealand initial teacher education programme. Teach First New Zealand has been particularly effective in providing graduates with high-demand skills in subjects such as maths and chemistry, and placing them in schools with some of the biggest achievement challenges.

The Teach First New Zealand expansion builds off other steps we are taking to ensure a sufficient supply of qualified teachers.  These include:

lifting the moratorium on new teacher education programmes from January 2018, $2 million over two years for the Education Council to create an induction and mentoring programme for eligible provisionally certified teachers, to convert up to 700 teachers to gain full certification, and $9 million over four years announced in September 2016 to boost the number of teachers in high-demand subjects and locations.

Strengthening Māori education and improving Te Reo resources

I am also pleased to announce that, through Budget 2017, the Government is also investing $7.6 million over four years to provide more curriculum resources for Māori-medium education.

Around 180,000 young New Zealanders are participating in Maori-medium or Maori language education, and it is important that students and teachers have the resources to give them choices and support their achievement.

Supporting our official languages is incredibly important, and it’s been promising to see the increasing numbers of students taking the opportunity to learn te reo Maori, or even to study in full immersion.

Budget 2017 also provides $1.7 million over four years to maintain the provision of support to Boards of Trustees of Kura Kaupapa Māori by Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori and Ngā Kura ā Iwi o Aotearoa.  

English for Speakers of Other Languages

We also have a growing and diverse school population with a whole host of languages and dialects being spoken in classrooms up and down the country.

We recognise the extra support that students who don’t have English as their first language need to succeed in New Zealand, to prosper and contribute to society.

Budget 2017 provides $9.4 million over two years to support schools to receive English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) funding.

Strengthening the system

Finally, as student numbers and our education system grows, it is important that the Government has policies and institutions in place to assure quality and value for money.

Through Budget 2017, we are putting extra resources in to underpin the performance of the system, including:

$5.5 million over four years to allow the Education Review Office to keep pace with a rapidly growing and evolving system $8 million over three years to improve the Ministry of Education’s ability to plan for future school investments, and $9.8 million over two years to allow the Ministry to provide further support to schools and greater oversight of the early learning sector.

That $8 million to increase the Ministry’s planning is important. Whilst we have invested $5 billion in school property, we do need to continue to improve the Ministry’s planning for growth.

Future-proofing education

This is a Budget that provides significant investment in education, both for the growing number of children and young people and the diverse nature of the population.

The change in our approach to funding reflects the changes not only in society as a whole, but within education too. We have seen huge changes to the education landscape in the past nine years.

We now have 197 Communities of Learning across the country with schools, early childhood education services and tertiary providers all working together to lift achievement. To provide a personalised pathway for the children and young people in their Community, so they transition smoothly from one part of the education system to another. So they can benefit from the best teaching practices and methods available. Communities of Learning are also changing the career pathways for teachers, offering new opportunities for those wanting to climb the ladder but stay in the classroom.

We have just seen the biggest reform to education in thirty years pass into law with the Education (Update) Amendment Act.  This opens up new possibilities for schools through cohort entry and Communities of Online Learning. There will be further consultation before Communities of Online Learning come into operation, but the idea that a child in rural Bluff could learn Mandarin, or a teenager in Waverley, Taranaki learning coding as part of an online class is fantastic.

And it’s important that our education system does keep changing, preparing young people for the future workplace. I’m really concerned that in just a couple of decades a number of jobs that exist now simply won’t be there anymore. Young New Zealanders need to be prepared for a modern, digitally-rich economy.

So we need to make sure that our education system is preparing students for those jobs, that it is future-focussed and that our curriculum, practices and learning spaces are all fit for the 21st Century.

We will achieve this in a number of ways, including the recent passing of the Education (Update) Amendment Act, the Funding Review, the integration of digital technology into the curriculum, the modernisation of learning spaces, new pathways for teachers, the new Better Public Service challenge focusing on maths and writing, better use of data and taking a social investment approach to education.

Concluding remarks

I’m pleased that with this Budget we have been able to develop our social investment approach to make a real difference to children’s lives at a much earlier stage. To have that impact before it’s too late and to give them and their families a better future, a future of opportunity.

This Government wants the best for every child. Our continued increase in funding for education demonstrates our commitment to every young New Zealander, no matter who they are or where they are.

Education is a key driver to success, and ensuring that every child has the best opportunity to achieve, no matter their background, is very important.

Budget 2017 is about continuing to deliver for a growing and diverse nation. We are also delivering more than ever for disadvantage through investments in behavioural services, increasing oral language skills and targeted funding for schools and early learning.

Thank you very much for attending today’s forum and lock up. I really appreciate the work that you do and I look forward to working with you in the coming months.

Thank you.

School capacity across New Zealand will increase significantly as a result of $392.4 million of capital funding and $64.1 million of operating funding over four years, Education Minister Nikki Kaye and Associate Education Minister Tim Macindoe say.

“This will provide six new schools, two school expansions, the relocation of two special education schools, 11 new special education satellite units and around 305 new classrooms nationwide,” Ms Kaye says.

“We inherited a school property portfolio with an average age of 40 years, beset by issues such as leaky buildings and poor maintenance. We’ve prioritised extra money to tackle big issues such as earthquake strengthening, weathertightening and major redevelopments.”

Mr Macindoe says this investment is all part of our commitment to provide the public services we need in a growing country, and will help us modernise and transform schools into 21st Century learning environments.

“A total of $277.6 million, comprising $240.3 million capital and $37.3 million operating funding over four years, will be committed to projects in Auckland,” Mr Macindoe says.

Ms Kaye says this will fund four new schools, one school expansion and the relocation and rebuilding of two special education schools to collocate on a new site, as well as around 170 more classrooms at various schools across the city.

“The investment in Auckland delivers on the Government’s pledge in 2014 to build nine new schools as well as extra classrooms to address roll growth in the city,” Ms Kaye says.

“The extra funding announced today will see us increase the total number of new student places in the city to more than 21,000 by 2021.”

Outside of Auckland, Budget 2017 provides $146.9 million for school property, comprising $125.7 million capital and $21.2 million operating funding over four years.

“Other parts of New Zealand are growing too, and we’re committed to expanding school property across New Zealand,” Mr Macindoe says.

“This funding will provide two new schools, one school expansion and around 130 extra classrooms in other parts of the country.”

The Government will announce further details on all these school property projects over the coming months.

“A school’s physical environment plays a crucial part in supporting students’ success. Our goal is to ensure students learn in modern, inspiring environments, no matter where they go to school,” Ms Kaye says.

Budget 2017 also provides $31.9 million, comprising $26.4 million of capital funding and $5.5 million of operational funding over four years, for land purchases to ensure we can build new schools as demand grows.

“This $456.5 million investment means the Government has now committed more than $5 billion towards school property, significantly more than any previous government,” Ms Kaye says.

Budget 2017 provides $63.3 million of operating funding over the next four years to support students with additional learning needs, including more teacher aide hours and a new programme for parents and teachers of young children with autism, Education Minister Nikki Kaye says.

“This Government is committed to ensuring that every child gets the support they need to be successful in life,” Ms Kaye says.

“Budget 2017 includes $15.5 million to extend the provision of teacher aide support to an extra 625 students per year. This investment means the Government will have fulfilled its pledge to roll out in-class support to 4,000 students.

“By providing more teacher aides and programmes for children with autism, we are supporting young people who have challenges to get ahead while also ensuring teachers have more time for all the children in their classroom.”

The Government has significantly increased funding for children with additional learning needs by around 33 per cent since 2009 to $633 million per year.

As already announced by the Prime Minister, $34.7 million of new funding will provide specialist behaviour services for an extra 1,000 children, and $6 million will also be invested to support young children with difficulties talking and listening.

Further support for parents and teachers of children with autism is also being provided as part of the Budget 2017 Social Investment Package, with a $4.2 million investment to extend the Incredible Years Programme for children with high needs to parents and teachers of autistic children aged two to five.

“The early years of children’s lives are incredibly important for their development. Providing support at the earliest opportunity will give children the best start to their education journey, and help them lead better lives as young people and adults,” Ms Kaye says.

Budget 2017 has delivered the largest injection of new money into education since the Government took office in 2008, with an additional $1.1 billion of new operating funding over the next four years, plus an additional $392.4 million of capital funding, Education Minister Nikki Kaye says.

“This is a significant investment in our children and in New Zealand’s future, designed to keep improving achievement and deliver the best results for our children,” Ms Kaye says.

There are a number of major investments as part of the new funding which include:

• Early childhood education providers will receive an additional $386 million of operating funding over the next four years. This will provide a further 31,000 early learning places over the next four years, as well as $35.5 million targeted toward supporting children most at risk of under achievement.
• Primary and secondary schools will receive $458.9 million of additional operating funding over the next four years, largely to meet increasing student numbers.
• $60.5 million will be used to boost schools’ Operational Grant Funding by 1.3 per cent, while schools with high numbers of at-risk students will receive an increase of 2.67 per cent in their Targeted At Risk Funding (bringing the total increase for this component to 4 per cent).
• A $456.5 million investment in school property with six new schools, the expansion of two schools, 11 special education satellite units and 305 new classrooms nationwide. This consists of $392.4 million of capital and $64.1 million of operating funding over the next four years.
• $63.3 million of operating funding over the next four years will be provided to support students with additional learning needs, including expanding specialist behavioural services.
• $7.6 million for Māori language curriculum resources, $9.4 million over four years to support students with English as another language through the ESOL programme and $810,000 for schools in Kaikoura over two years to support them following the November earthquake.

“This Government is committed to supporting all our schools and early learning services to deliver the best education possible to ensure that every young New Zealander has the opportunity to achieve,” Ms Kaye says.

“As part of this we need to continue the transformational work already taking place across the education system to make it more responsive to the individual needs of children to raise achievement and improve the life outcomes and employment opportunities for every young New Zealander.

“Our investment in education is already delivering results. More than 85 per cent of 18 year olds achieved NCEA Level 2 last year, and nearly 97 per cent of children are attending early childhood education.

“This new investment is about continuing those gains and ensuring that every child and young person is getting the education they deserve.”

The new funding takes the total operating expenditure for Vote Education for 2017/18 to $11.6 billion.

Kaikorai Primary School in Dunedin is set to benefit from a $6.7 million redevelopment as part of the Government’s commitment to modernise school infrastructure, Education Minister Nikki Kaye and Associate Education Minister Tim Macindoe announced today.

“Kaikorai Primary School is a high performing school and the modern and innovative new learning spaces it will receive will enable it to continue to inspire the best from its pupils, both now and in the future,” says Ms Kaye.

“This is a great opportunity for the school and its community to develop an environment that will support their vision for teaching and learning.

“The investment announced today comes on top of $37 million announced for new classrooms and school redevelopments in the Otago-Southland region last year.

“Overall, this Government has invested more in school infrastructure than any previous Government, with over $5 billion committed to address legacy issues such as old, leaky buildings; provide extra capacity to address roll growth pressures within existing schools; and build brand new schools.

Mr Macindoe says Kaikorai Primary School has a long and proud history as one of Dunedin’s oldest schools, having been established in 1869.

“The redevelopment will see the demolition of several old buildings that are near the end of their useful life,” says Mr Macindoe.

“Eight new classrooms will be built as part of this project, along with a new library, administration area and multipurpose hall.

“Kaikorai Primary School will work with the Ministry of Education over the next two years to develop plans for the new facilities.

“Once the plans are drawn up, construction work on the site is expected to commence in mid-2019.”

Education Minister Nikki Kaye unveiled a commemorative photograph at Auckland Grammar School this morning, dedicated to New Zealand’s first ever female university graduate, Kate Edger.

“It was a privilege to acknowledge Kate, who was a real trailblazer and a passionate advocate for women at a time when opportunities for women were much more limited than they are today,” says Ms Kaye.

“In 1874, with no secondary schooling for girls available in Auckland, Kate was granted permission to attend Auckland College and Grammar School, now Auckland Grammar School.

“Kate was 16 years old at the time and was the only female in a class of boys. She had previously been taught at home by her father.

“She gained a University Scholarship and went on to achieve success at university and in her subsequent teaching career, as foundation headmistress of Nelson College for Girls then running a private school for secondary girls from her family home in Mt Victoria, Wellington.

“Kate was also actively involved in the New Zealand Society for the Protection of Women and Children, and the Suffrage Movement.

“We have much to owe women like Kate, who changed society through their convictions and determination, and who made the road easier for those who follow in their footsteps.”

Kate Edgar became New Zealand’s first female university graduate in 1877, when she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Latin and Mathematics at the University of New Zealand.

“She didn’t just break new ground in New Zealand, she was also the first woman in the British Empire to receive a BA degree,” says Mr Goldsmith.

“After completing her BA, Kate went on to graduate with a Masters Degree from Canterbury College in 1882, and in 1935 she was awarded a King’s Jubilee Silver Medal.

“Today, women make up around 58 per cent of students in tertiary education, so it’s hard to imagine a time when they were a small minority amongst their male peers.

“We owe a great deal to women like Kate who through their efforts have helped make the world a much better place.”

Delivered to executive members of the Auckland Secondary Principals Association and Auckland Primary Principals Association - not delivered word for word

Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to meet with me. It has been a busy first three weeks, but getting out to schools and meeting principals like yourselves is so important to me.

The focus of my discussion with you today is on teacher supply and quality. This is an area that I know is of concern to you which is why I wanted to come here to speak to you today.

Firstly I’d like to talk briefly about my priorities as Education Minister. I’m going to be working on a number of areas over the coming months, both building on the work of the previous Minister as well as covering some new ground. I done want to mark the hard work and dedication of the previous Minister, Hekia Parata, who did so much to improve education at a system level. Having done that work, creating new frameworks such as Communities of Learning I now have the luxury of taking a broader view, to focus on what’s needed for the future.

Like you, I have high ambitions for our young people. I want every child progressing through our education system to be able to read, write, do maths, be digitally fluent, healthy and well rounded. I’m really concerned that in just a couple of decades a number of jobs that exist now simply won’t be there anymore. Young New Zealanders need to be prepared for a modern, digitally rich economy. Education is the pathway to their future success, and the experiences they have in the classroom will not only shape them but have lasting impacts.

In order to raise achievement it is crucial that we continue to improve the quality of teachers. The replacement of the Teachers Council with the Education Council has been an important step towards enabling the profession to raise standards in teaching. The Government has provided financial support to get the organisation up and running.

The Council is an independent statutory body mandated to lift the status of the teaching profession. They are focused on good teaching practice and helping to raise the status and image of the teaching profession. They have recently consulted on a new professional code which covers expectations of ethical behaviour and standards of professional practice for the teaching profession. They have also signalled that they have been reviewing the qualifications required for teachers to be able to practice. These are important pieces of work and I look forward to being briefed further by the council in the coming months on this work.

As teachers and principals, you have a huge responsibility to each and every child that comes through your school. Your passion and drive can inspire a life-long love of a subject, it can change the course of children’s lives and bring hope and aspiration to students struggling through difficult times.

We are fortunate in New Zealand to have a dedicated and committed workforce in our schools, who are quite rightly valued and respected. The overall number of teachers in New Zealand is over 100,000 across our schooling and early childhood education and I am advised that this is a reasonable number to support our education system.

But we are aware that there are subjects and locations around the country, particularly here in Auckland, where at the moment it can be difficult to recruit. We also want all of our teachers to be the very best they can be – to lift their game each and every day and be constantly seeking to improve their knowledge and practice.

Let me focus first of all on those priority subjects – the sciences, maths, technology and te reo Maori. I want you to know that I have heard you when you have spoken about what it’s like recruiting quality teachers in these subjects, particularly in Auckland. Whilst overall the vacancy rates are low and we’re not experiencing the shortages that were reached in 2009, we are aware that you have been finding it difficult.

I’m also aware of the need to talk about maintaining and lifting the quality of teaching and leadership alongside any discussion about supply. This Government is committed to progressively strengthening the teaching profession and building and maintaining a high-quality teacher workforce that benefits every child and young person.

There is no one answer to increasing the number of teachers or strengthening the profession which is why I’m pleased to tell you today about a range of initiatives that we’re putting in place. These build on the $9 million package announced by the previous Education Minister last year that was designed to help address teacher supply pressures and build and maintain a quality teacher workforce.

Firstly in the upcoming budget we will commit $5.2 million over the next four years to expand the innovative employment-based initial teacher education (ITE) programme provided by Teach First NZ to a further 90 participants.

We’re also committing $2 million of operating funding over the next two years towards further induction and mentoring for provisionally-certificated teachers in priority areas to gain full certification.

And from the beginning of next year we will lift the moratorium on new study programmes for teacher qualifications which has been in place since 2000.

Let me give you some more detail on each of those, starting with Teach First NZ.

I’m sure you are all familiar with this programme which places trainee teachers in schools while they complete their qualifications. The focus has been on recruiting high quality graduates in subjects where we need more teachers, so the sciences, maths and technology. The programme also places trainee teachers in schools with the highest needs to help ease pressures on teacher supply.

To date, 42 percent of Teach First NZ graduates teach maths, chemistry, physics or science, and all of them teach in schools with high proportions of Maori and Pasifika students, and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

The extra $5.2 million funding which I’ve announced today will provide two further cohorts of 45 prospective teachers each, starting in 2018. So that’s 90 extra teachers. The emphasis will be on STM subjects, and graduates will be trained to teach in schools with a high proportion of Māori and Pasifika students, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Staying with the theme of attracting more people into teaching, I’ve also announced today that from the 1st of January next year we are lifting the moratorium on new programmes of initial teacher education which has been in place since 2000. The freeze was brought in by the Government to gain some control over the quality and quantity of programmes being established.

Over the years a number of quality assurance measures have been put in place, including the establishment of the Education Council. The Education Council intends to implement a number of quality improvements, which means there will no longer be a need for the moratorium.

Lifting the moratorium will make it easier for ITE providers to adjust their programmes

So that’s about attracting new high calibre candidates in to teaching. But what about at the other end of the scale? How can we support more people to stay in teaching, particularly at a time where our economy is doing well and other career options are available?

Today I’ve announced that we are allocating $2 million over two years to enable teachers whose provisional certification will, or has recently, expired to participate in a new induction and mentoring scheme. This will help them to meet the Education Council’s requirements of full certification, allowing them to continue to teach. 

Induction and mentoring is available to all teachers when they first gain their provisional certificate. However, we know that some teachers can miss out of this initial support because of the way they are employed.

By providing further support to teachers whose provisional certificate is nearing expiry we hope to encourage more of them to stay on in the profession and gain their full certificate. Many of these will be relieving and part-time staff who are an essential part of the education workforce.

The advantage of focusing on these staff are they already have experience and are known to many schools. We think this maximises the chances of getting more quality teachers with full registration.

I also know that for those of you in Communities of Learning appointing teachers to Community of Learning roles sometimes use additional staff to temporarily support those roles when providing release time.

Around 6,450 teachers hold provisional practicing certificates and around 800 of these will expire over the next two years. We expect up to 700 of these teachers will be eligible to get support through this scheme to gain full certification.

Priority for this mentoring programme will be given to teachers of the sciences, technology and mathematics (STM), te reo, in schools and ECEs in rural areas and Auckland.

Experienced teachers who have full certification will act as the mentors. Where schools are working together, possibly through a Community of Learning | Kahui Ako one mentor may work with more than one provisionally certificated teacher. I know that you and your colleagues will identify the best solution for your individual schools in consultation with the Education Council.

I can also confirm today that the Education Council will be going out to tender for the provision of Teacher Education Refresher courses.

The tender will aim to both improve the quality of these courses while also reducing the costs which I understand may be prohibitive for some teachers wishing to get full certification.

So that’s the range of initiatives we are adding to the $9 Million Teacher Supply Package that was announced last year. To give you an update on how that work is going:

A UK recruitment campaign has identified almost 500 UK teachers who are interested in moving to New Zealand to take up positions in the next 12-18 months.  Some have already arrived and are now in schools. The 100 extra TeachNZ scholarships for graduates in the sciences technology and maths (STM) to qualify as teachers have already been filled this year with a good number and range of applicants.  These new teachers will be available to start working in schools from the beginning of 2018. Thirty Teach First NZ teachers started in Auckland secondary schools at the start of this school year, and 18 of these are STM teachers. A social media campaign promoting teaching to STM graduates was launched in September 2016. The campaign has attracted around 176,000 visits, resulting in 1038 queries to ITE providers about the programmes of study available. The ‘Bring a Kiwi Home’ campaign, aimed at encouraging New Zealand teachers working overseas to return home to teach, was launched in mid-December. While it is too early to measure its success, the videos associated with the campaign have had 14,310 views to date.

On top of all this we are also working with the Tertiary Education Commission to influence the intake of students enrolling in initial teacher education so that they are a better match to school needs, working with the Education Council to smooth the path for overseas teachers coming to work in New Zealand.

Here in Auckland we also have a joint project with the Auckland Primary Principals Association running to increase the number of beginning teachers employed in positions that will take them through to fill certification.  39 schools are involved in this two-year project focussed on helping beginning teachers to gain the skills they need to teach junior classes – an area where some Auckland schools were having recruitment difficulties. I hope that for those of you taking part in this initiative that it is having a positive impact.

So I hope that you can see that our Government is committed to supporting you to have more teachers in areas where you may be finding it difficult to recruit. We know the attrition rate - that is, those people choosing to leave the profession - has dropped, which is positive. However, we need to continue to deliver to geographical areas or subject areas where there is a need. This requires us to be responsive alongside the Education Council and consider new initiatives where appropriate. The need may change over time and will be diverse, from the suburbs of Auckland to provincial areas like Nelson.

By focussing on supporting more provisionally registered teachers to move to full registration and attracting more high quality graduates into the profession we’re looking at multiple ways to increase the number of available teachers. We will be giving priority to areas where there may be fewer teachers. The Teach First NZ investment of $5.2 million for 90 teachers will help boost graduates in maths, chemistry, physics and science. It will also enable us to better support schools with high proportions of Maori and Pasifika students, and students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

Of course I know that you would like us to continue to do more. I plan to keep listening and to work in partnership with the Education Council, the unions, other stakeholders and you - school leaders - to continue to support the profession on issues of supply.

I want to end by thanking each of you for the work you do, for the passion that you bring to your profession and the commitment you have to inspiring our young people to not only succeed but to thrive. We want all young New Zealanders to have access to excellent teachers and have choices to study across a broad range of subjects. Today's announcement is about supporting our education leaders to help deliver this.

The Minister of Education Nikki Kaye has today announced new measures to enhance teacher quality and supply.

In a speech at Onehunga High School, Ms Kaye told principals that alongside funding 90 additional teachers through the Teach First NZ initiative the following measures are being taken to improve the supply and quality of teachers:

The Government is committing $2 million for the Education Council to create an induction and mentoring programme for eligible provisionally certified teachers to convert up to 700 teachers to gain full registration. Cabinet has agreed to lift the moratorium on new teacher education programmes in January 2018. Confirmed the Education Council will be going out to tender for the provision of Teacher Education Refresher courses with the aim of  reducing the costs which may be prohibitive for some teachers working towards full certification.

“We are committed to continuing to strengthen the teaching profession, by improving both the quality of teachers and building and maintaining the stable workforce that young New Zealanders deserve,” says Ms Kaye.

“The overall number of teachers in New Zealand is over 100,000 across schooling and early childhood education and I am advised that this is a reasonable number to support our education system. Of those 100,000 around 6,450 hold a provisional practising certificate.

“However, I have also listened closely to what principals and others have been telling us and the evidence of pressures in some subjects and geographical areas. Today's announcement demonstrates that we are prepared to continue to support schools to get teachers in those harder to staff areas.”

The new mentoring programme follows recommendations made by the Joint Working Group on Secondary Teacher Supply in their 2016 report.

It will be available to eligible provisionally certified teachers nearing the end of their certification. However, teachers in high demand locations which include some urban and rural areas and subjects, such as the sciences, maths, technology, te reo Māori and Māori medium, will be prioritised.

The programme will support teachers to achieve full certification. Induction and mentoring is available to all teachers when they first gain their provisional certificate. However, we know that some teachers can miss out of this initial support because of the way they are employed.

“By providing further support to teachers whose provisional certificate is nearing expiry we hope to encourage more of them to stay on in the profession and gain their full certificate. Many of these will be relieving and part-time staff who are an essential part of the education workforce.

“It’s estimated that over the next two years this scheme could support up to 700 provisionally certificated teachers to become fully certificated.”

Alongside the mentoring scheme a freeze on new teacher education programmes, which has been in place since 2000, is being lifted from 1 January 2018.

The moratorium was put in place to gain control over the quantity and quality of initial teacher education programmes.

“Significant quality assurance has now been put in place and we are open once again to applications of good quality from innovative providers,” says Ms Kaye.

Today’s announcements are in partnership to the $5.2 million dollars being committed to extend Teach First NZ as part of Budget 2017. All of these add to the $9million package of measures announced in 2016 to address teacher supply and quality. These include:

A UK recruitment campaign which has identified almost 500 UK teachers who are interested in moving to New Zealand to take up positions in the next 12-18 months. Some have already arrived and are now in schools. 100 extra TeachNZ scholarships for graduates in the sciences, technology and mathematics (STM) to qualify as teachers have already been filled this year. These new teachers will be available to start working in schools from the beginning of 2018. Thirty Teach First NZ teachers started in Auckland secondary schools at the start of this school year, and 18 of these are STM teachers. A social media campaign promoting teaching to STM graduates was launched in September 2016. The campaign has attracted around 176,000 visits, resulting in 1,038 queries to ITE providers about the programmes of study available. The first phase of the ‘Bring a Kiwi Home’ campaign, aimed at encouraging New Zealand teachers working overseas to return home to teach, has been completed. While it is too early to measure its success, the videos associated with the campaign have been viewed 14,310 times. The campaign will start up again in a few months.

“There is no one measure that will enable the right quality teachers to be in the right place at the right time which is why we have a range of initiatives to address supply pressures,” says Ms Kaye.

“Having listened to principals, the Education Council and those on the front line of recruitment we are working to support more teachers to stay in the profession as well as encourage more high calibre graduates into teaching.

“We have a dedicated and committed workforce in schools and early childhood centres right across New Zealand, who are valued and respected. Teaching should rightly be a profession that young New Zealanders aspire to enter through passionate role models who are at the top of their game in every classroom.”

Questions and Answers:

1. What evidence do you have that further mentoring near the expiry of their provisional practising certification will encourage more teachers to become fully certified?

Teachers working in part-time and short-term reliever roles are employed across multiple schools, which can make it difficult to accumulate sufficient structured teaching experiences to meet the requirements for full certification. Existing induction and mentoring programmes already in place, in the main, focus on beginning graduate teachers with provisional certification in their first two years of practice. These are designed to enable them to meet the requirements for full certification.

Having an in-school option to complete an induction and mentoring programme is likely to encourage more teachers to take the opportunity that will enable them to move to full certification rather than leaving teaching.

2. Who is eligible for this new support?

Teachers who are most at risk of losing provisional certification and who meet certain criteria:

A suitable mentoring programme is not in place and provisional certification expires within the next two years Provisional certification has expired in the last six months The teacher has at least 1 year of the 2 year induction and mentoring programme already completed, and Recent teaching experience in the New Zealand education system.

3. Who will the mentoring programme give preference to?

The programme will give preference to:

Teachers in locations under particular teacher supply pressure Relieving and part-time teachers Teachers working in Māori medium settings Teachers filling roles in the sciences, technology, maths and te reo Māori Teachers helping to backfill staff filling new roles in Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako.

4. How many teachers is this likely to support?

There are currently up to 800 teachers whose provisional certification is due to expire in the next 24 months but not all of these teachers may be eligible for the programme. The estimate is that up to 700 may get full certification.

5. Do you know why teachers allow their certificates to expire?

Provisional certification can expire for a range of reasons, including not having a suitable mentor, taking time off to have children, travelling overseas before being employed as a teacher, or not recording sufficient evidence to demonstrate the standards they have to meet.

6. Who will act as the mentors?

Experienced teachers who have full certification. Where schools collaborate one teacher may work with more than one provisionally certificated teacher. Schools will identify the best solution for them in consultation with the Education Council.

7. Why is the moratorium being lifted on new ITE programmes?

Since 2000 quality assurance processes have been strengthened. The Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAPP) and NZQA provide one step in the process of approving programmes, with the Education Council responsible for a further and final step in approving all initial teacher education programmes.

Removing the moratorium will make it easier for providers to start adjusting their programmes to meet any new requirements following the Education Council’s review of initial teacher education.

8. Why was a freeze put in in the first place?

The moratorium was established in response to concerns about the rapid growth in the number of tertiary providers offering initial teacher education qualifications, together with the number and quality of the programmes they offered.

9. Will this encourage more students to train as teachers?

Lifting the moratorium provides an opportunity for tertiary providers to adjust their programmes or develop more innovative models that address issues that have been well canvassed with the sector. New programmes may provide more attractive study opportunities for tertiary students currently considering their career options.

Education Minister Nikki Kaye has announced that Budget 2017 will commit $5.2 million of operating funding over the next four years to expand the innovative teacher training programme, Teach First NZ, to provide places for a further 90 participants.

“This funding is part of the Government’s drive to strengthen the teaching profession,” says Ms Kaye.

“Ensuring we have high quality teachers across all subjects is hugely important to us. Teach First NZ is great for recruiting high quality graduates in subjects that at the moment are harder to staff, such as maths, science and technology.”

Teach First NZ is the country’s only schooling sector, employment-based initial teacher education (ITE) programme and has been operating as a pilot since 2013.

“In 2016 we committed more than $9 million to a package of initiatives which included lifting the number of science, technology and maths teachers and reducing the loss of beginning teachers.

“Budget 2017 will allocate $5.2 million over the next four years of reprioritised funding from Vote Tertiary Education to expand Teach First NZ and recruit the very best new teachers.”

To date, 42 per cent of Teach First NZ graduates teach maths, science or technology, and all of them teach in schools with some of the biggest achievement challenges. They have directly served 14,000 New Zealand students, including 4,000 Māori and Pasifika.

The funding will provide two further cohorts of 45 participants each, starting in 2018. The emphasis continues to be on STM subjects, and graduates will be trained to teach in schools with a high proportion of Māori and Pasifika students, and students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

“Teach First NZ graduates have proved hugely influential on the students they teach during their training, making a real difference to young people in subjects that can be challenging,” says Ms Kaye.

“This Government is continuing to invest heavily in our children’s futures and we have proven our commitment to transforming the education system to make it more responsive to the needs of learners, to raise educational achievement, and to improve life outcomes and employment options.

“Today’s announcement comes alongside the creation of a new induction and mentoring programme to support provisionally registered teachers to become fully registered before their certificate expires, and the lifting of a freeze on new teacher education programmes from 2018.

Notes to Editors:

Under employment-based ITE, teacher trainees are employed by schools as teachers while undertaking their teaching qualification.

Instead of being based in universities, with some in-school experience, students participating in employment-based ITE have their study moulded around time spent in the classroom. This increases the within-school experiences and responsibilities of participants compared to other ITE programmes.

The 2018 programme is conditional on successful approval of the qualification by the new provider, The Mind Lab by Unitec. Submission of the new qualification to NZQA and the Education Council will occur this month.

Education Minister Nikki Kaye today announced that the Ministry of Education will work with schools and communities to develop an Area Strategy for the Havelock North/Hastings area, as well as Napier if necessary.

“An Area Strategy looks at the education needs in a particular location and how these will be addressed, taking into account factors such as projected population and roll growth,” says Ms Kaye.

“Information gathering for the strategy will begin now, but the key work will happen in 2018.

“We know that schools in Havelock North are experiencing roll growth and extra classrooms are already on the way to help address this.

“Four new classrooms will be delivered this year for Havelock North Primary School, along with two classrooms each for Lucknow and Te Mata Primary Schools.

“The Area Strategy will consider medium and long term population growth, as well as how the existing network of schools could accommodate this growth. It will also consider the school property requirements needed to support a quality education network for the local community.

“I met with the principals of Havelock North’s three primary schools today, to inform them of the strategy and discuss their views about local education provision.

“I acknowledged concerns around the pace of delivery of some of the new classrooms. This has been affected by factors including extending project scope after the initial timeline was developed, and I reassured the principals that the Ministry expects all the new classrooms to be delivered by the end of this year.”

Ms Kaye says work is also continuing towards confirming a new site for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Wānanga Whare Tāpere o Takitimu.

“Last year, following an environmental evaluation, the Ministry decided that the Arataki Road site previously proposed for the kura is unsuitable for education purposes,” says Ms Kaye.

“A preferred new site has been identified and due diligence is being carried out. 

“Meanwhile, the Arataki Road site has been transferred to LINZ for disposal, in line with the provisions of the Public Works Act 1981.

“Student safety and wellbeing will always be paramount, which is why the Ministry sought alternative sites for the new kura.

“The Government recognises the important part that a school’s physical environment plays in supporting the success of students.

“In the Hawke’s Bay region, we’ve announced around $5.9 million for new classrooms and $19 million for school redevelopments since June 2016.

“Relocating and rebuilding Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Wānanga Whare Tāpere o Takitimu could see an additional estimated investment of around $12 million, including land purchase, design and construction.

“In total, this represents an investment of up to around $37 million in Hawke’s Bay school infrastructure.

“We’re committed to modernising and expanding schools to meet the needs of local communities, which is why we’ve invested more than $5 billion since 2008 towards new and upgraded school infrastructure across New Zealand.”

Notes

Overview of recent investments announced for Hawke’s Bay schools

Havelock North Primary School, $1.9m approx for four new classrooms, on-track for delivery by October 2017 Lucknow Primary School, $1.0m approx for two new classrooms, on-track for delivery by December 2017 Te Mata Primary School, $1.0m approx for two new classrooms, on-track for delivery by December 2017 Eskdale School, $0.8m approx for two new classrooms, on-track for delivery by October 2017 Clive School, $0.4m approx for one new classroom, on-track for delivery by October 2017 Greenmeadows School, $0.8m approx for two new classrooms, on-track for delivery in Term 1, 2019 Flaxmere College, $14m approx redevelopment, on-track for completion in mid 2019 Kimi Ora Community School, $5m approx redevelopment, on-track for completion in early 2019