UNITY
Future-fit Education
Let's plan for our kids' futures. Not election cycles.
New Zealand's education system is capable of excellence. In the 2000s, we were top-performers globally. But since then, education has become politicised and results have fallen. Every few years, governments rewrite the curriculum to fix the problem - reshaping the qualification your teenager is halfway through, or restructuring the early learning centre your toddler attends.
That’s why the key feature of our Future-Fit Education policy is a 10-year, cross-party plan, led by an independent council to get political interference out of the classroom. Within that plan, Opportunity will advocate for a stronger voice and more funding for teachers, and modernise education so that our young people are ready for a complex future.
Education is a compounding investment in our collective future. Uncertainty and destabilisation not only increases workload, it detracts focus from what matters: excellent teaching and learning.
THREE PILLARS FOR FUTURE-FIT EDUCATION
Pillar 1
Build a ten-year, cross-party plan for education
Opportunity will work across Parliament to establish a 10 year plan for education, built with educators, learners and families, and grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Within the plan, Opportunity will support the formation of an Independent Curriculum and Assessment Council to set the curriculum and assessment frameworks, instead of politicians.
Pillar 2
Back teachers to teach well
To end New Zealand’s teacher shortage for good, Opportunity will advocate for reforms within the 10 year plan that address the high workload, poor pay and workforce planning issues that our educators face every day. We’ll show teachers we value them by supporting higher teacher training standards, funding ongoing professional development, restoring the Independent Teaching Council and delivering the specialist and administrative resources they need to teach well.
Pillar 3
Modernise learning
Education always matters - but it matters even more in an increasingly complex world. To navigate change and be active citizens in the future, our kids will need to start well early-on and learn in new ways. As part of the 10 year plan, we’ll advocate for more modern early childhood education settings - including higher staff, space and education standards, as well as more support for community-owned services like Playcentre, Kōhanga Reo, Kindergartens, Pacific language nests, Playgroups and Nature Based Services. In-line with evidence, we’ll also call for purposeful technology use in schools, more te reo Māori learning, a plan to better connect vocational and academic learning and upgraded polytechs for lifelong learning.
Students and teachers deserve better than endless restructures. They deserve an education plan that lasts.
Read our full policy paper
Download PDFFrequently Asked Questions
How do you make a 10-year education plan stick?
Opportunity will use our position as a party that can work across the aisle to bring other parties together. We will be open with the public about who comes to the table and who doesn’t. We believe there is enough public support for this approach that parties will be incentivised to take part, and approaches like this have worked in other countries like Denmark, Estonia and Scotland.
How much will this policy cost?
A large part of this policy is governance and regulatory change that imposes no direct cost. For the elements of this policy that do require additional funding Opportunity will advocate for that within the context of the ten-year plan.
Do you support the Foundational Award, NZCE and NZACE being implemented from 2028?
That's not our call to make, and it shouldn't be any politician's. Politicians have been in the weeds of curriculum design for far too long. The decision on the new qualifications should sit with an independent Curriculum and Assessment Council.
Will you fix teacher pay?
We will advocate for including teacher workforce planning inside the ten-year plan, so training intakes, supervision, career pathways and fair remuneration are worked out as part of a ten-year pathway instead of bid for one Budget at a time.
