What is proposed?
The Government is investing an extra $359 million over the next four years to help raise student achievement.
The Investing in Educational Success initiative creates Communities of Schools to strengthen collaboration between principals, teachers and schools in order to raise student achievement.
The Government is working with the sector to introduce three new roles within schools to help Communities of Schools identify and address common achievement challenges.
There will also be an extra allowance to attract highly capable candidates to principal vacancies at schools that have the greatest challenges.
The new roles will:
- share expertise across schools and among teachers and principals
- help recognise highly-capable teachers and principals with proven track records
- keep good teachers in the classroom.
Inquiry Time will be provided for teachers to benefit from the expertise of their colleagues across their Community of Schools.
In addition to the new roles, a $10 million Teacher-Led Innovation Fund will be established to foster new and effective teaching practices which can be shared across the system.
What consultation has there been with the education sector?
A representative Working Group chaired by the Secretary for Education has been working on details of Investing in Educational Success, and has now provided its advice in a report.
The Working Group comprised unions, secondary and primary principals’ associations, parent/employer association, Māori and Pasifika education representatives, and an early childhood sector representative.
The Government has welcomed the report, and the Ministry of Education will do further work with the education sector on the design of Investing in Educational Success.
Working Group members have been invited to join a new Advisory Group, to remain involved in developing Investing in Educational Success. A number of education academics have also been invited to join the Advisory Group.
What is in the Working Group’s report?
The Working Group’s report provides support for:
- establishing communities of schools to work together to raise student achievement, and to encourage greater collaboration between schools on shared achievement objectives
- introducing new teaching and principal roles to support collaboration and effective practice and to provide clearer pathways for teachers and principals
- involving external and independent expertise in appointments to the new teacher and principal roles and establish professional standards for these roles
- providing additional Inquiry Time to all schools in Communities of Schools to allow teachers to access the expertise that the new roles would make available
- funding teachers to work on innovative projects and practices that will raise student achievement within, and across, schools
- introducing an allowance to help the boards of trustees of some of most high need schools to broaden their recruitment pool and assist them to recruit a high quality principal.
The Working Group’s report suggests:
- changing the names of the roles to make clearer the collaborative aspects of the initiative
- rebalancing the allocation of existing funding between allowances for the new roles and the provision of Inquiry Time
- allocating the Teacher–led Innovation Fund over three years, rather than two years
- linking the number of new roles and amount of Inquiry Time to demographic changes.
What is the Government’s response to the report?
The Government has welcomed the report. It has carefully considered the advice in the report and the Minister has tasked the Ministry of Education with continuing to work with the sector to finalise the details.
What happens next?
The report is a vital next step towards IES implementation.
More work is being done on the details. Work streams have been set up to look in further detail at how best to support Communities of Schools to set themselves up, how best to support selecting the new teacher and principal roles, and at how selection criteria and/or professional standards can best support these roles.
There will also be work, in consultation with the sector, to establish the Teacher-led Innovation Fund, the recruitment of principals for high-needs schools, and the process and setting of the achievement challenges for the new communities of schools.
The Ministry will hold discussion with union groups to confirm those elements of IES that will be the subject of industrial bargaining, before bargaining actually begins.
Further information
FurtherRead more questions and answers about the proposed changes for further background information on Investing in Educational Success .Investing in Educational Success.