Twelve challenges the next government cannot ignore
Aotearoa New Zealand’s education system is at a defining moment.
There is understandable urgency around lifting achievement, strengthening foundational learning and ensuring young people leave school with the knowledge and qualifications they need. These goals matter. But if we focus only on the most visible measures, we risk missing the deeper questions: What is education for? What conditions allow learning to flourish? And are we building a system that will serve the world our young people will inherit?
In my latest thought piece titled Beyond the Ballot Box: 12 Challenges the Next Government Must Address, I look at twelve issues shaping education in Aotearoa. Some are immediate pressures; others will influence the system for a generation. Together, they point to a central argument that these challenges are connected, and they cannot be solved one at a time.
Consider attendance. It is influenced by whether learners feel engaged and connected. Engagement depends on relationships and the quality of the learning experience. That experience, in turn, rests on teaching capability, curriculum, leadership and resources. And all of these are shaped by the wider purpose and organisation of the system.
A targeted intervention may help with one part of the picture. But lasting improvement requires us to understand how the parts work together. Otherwise, a quick fix in one area can leave the underlying conditions untouched – or add pressure elsewhere.
The Government’s focus on curriculum clarity, literacy and mathematics, assessment, workforce development, learning support and evidence matters. Progress in these areas deserves support. The challenge is to make that progress while also addressing the broader educational, social and systemic conditions that shape learning.
That means holding two horizons in view. We need to improve what schools are doing now, while asking whether our assumptions about learning, teaching, assessment and success are fit for the future. AI, environmental change, social fragmentation and shifting patterns of work make that question increasingly urgent.
Reimagining education does not mean turning away from effective teaching or foundational knowledge. It means building on those foundations so learners can think critically, act with discernment, work with others, adapt to change and contribute meaningfully to their communities.
For me, the purpose of education is not simply to help young people succeed at school. It is to help them develop the knowledge, capabilities, relationships and sense of agency to live meaningful lives and shape a future worth inhabiting.
That ambition calls for more than a cycle of policy announcements, implementation demands and corrections. It requires the capacity to learn and change together – teachers, leaders, schools, kura, whānau, communities and agencies understanding challenges, testing responses, sharing what works and adapting over time. It also requires trust, collaboration and a coherent sense of purpose.
No single government can resolve these issues in one term – or even two. Lasting progress will take a long-term commitment that can sustain direction across political cycles, which is where my final challenge in the paper is around developing (and committing to) a longer term strategy for education – one that has cross-party commitment for the duration of the plan..
Each of its twelve sections in the paper close with questions for discussion – one for change in a local school or kura, and one for national policy. My hope is that these questions help widen and deepen the conversation around the motu, and move it beyond short-term fixes towards what we need to do together after the election.
The future of our nation, and the lives of our tamariki, are too important to leave to chance.
