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Secretary of Education Iona Holsted is assured the ministry job cuts required to achieve the Government’s spending saving targets will not reduce the standard of education.
It comes as the ministry has eventually landed on a final number of school upgrade projects which have been plagued by funding issues, overambitious designs or cost blowouts in the hours after Education Minister Erica Stanford admitted her frustration in not having a confirmed figure.
A message from Holsted was published yesterday on the Ministry of Education website that said a “reduction in our Ministry workforce” was required to achieve the desired 7.5 per cent of savings from education.
“We will need to reduce our work in some areas and remove as much duplication as we can across our functions,” the post read.
Secretary for Education Iona Holsted is confident frontline education resources won't be reduced as a result of the savings exercise. Photo / Mark Mitchell
“People whose roles may be impacted by proposed changes will be engaged with, and able to provide feedback through a consultation process, along with their representatives.
“These proposed changes will be in addition to our current recruitment pause, which will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Speaking to media today after appearing in a Parliament select committee, Holsted said frontline staff would not be included in the cuts.
“I’ve repeatedly said in every communication I’ve had that learning support staff, curriculum support staff, our leadership advisors and others who provide advice to schools and work with children are not affected by this.”
Holsted was attending the select committee in support of her minister, who fronted MPs to review the provision of education in the last year.
On Monday, Stanford and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon outlined problems within New Zealand’s school property upgrade portfolio, saying there were hundreds of projects that weren’t properly funded or had suffered a cost blowout.
The pair said there were up to 350 upgrades which had been poorly managed, prompting the Government to launch an independent review.
However, when asked about the final list of projects, Stanford today said she’d grown frustrated after receiving a “number of different lists” that “continue to change.
“I have been looking into it, and I’m extremely frustrated that the list keeps changing.”
Education Minister Erica Stanford speaks to the review she's launched into problems with school upgrade projects. Photo / Hagen Hopkins
Asked to explain, Holsted suspected Stanford was referring to how she’d earlier received a list of 250 identified projects, which was then reviewed. Holsted said the final number of problematic projects wouldn’t rise above 350.
The Herald later received a statement from the Ministry of Education stating that a final number had been confirmed - 352 projects concerning 305 schools.
A ministry spokeswoman said the final list would be given to Stanford today. The affected schools would be contacted by the ministry before the list was released publicly.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour also appeared before the Education Select Committee to discuss his duties, which included improving school attendance.
Seymour, a critic of the previous government’s record on attendance, has said publicly he wanted weekly attendance data to be published in order to enhance monitoring.
He couldn’t tell the Herald the full range of data the Government intended to publish, saying it was a “big surprise” that would be revealed in a matter of weeks, not days.
Seymour, who is known to enjoy the jibes and back-and-forth that come with political interactions, didn’t refrain from adding his two cents when challenged by Opposition MPs.
Act leader David Seymour is staying quiet for now on what data the Government will report relating to school attendance. Photo / Dean Purcell
That was best captured when Labour MP Willow-Jean Prime asked why he wasn’t considering creating a Māori education authority that could help manage education provision within Māori medium schools. She also questioned his belief that the idea of Māori self-determination (tino rangatiratanga) should be applied to all regardless of race.
The Act Party leader replied: “If your answer for Māori students is to create an extra bureaucracy rather than schools that engage and empower them, then I suspect that your time in Opposition may be longer than anyone thought.”
He also made an inadvertent dig at National MPs Grant McCallum and Carl Bates - as well as the Labour members - when Seymour congratulated his own MP, Parmjeet Parmar, for being the only committee MP to ask questions relating to the annual report - after McCallum and Bates had both asked questions.
Seymour later admitted to the Herald that during his time as an Opposition MP considering annual reports in select committees, he didn’t always ask questions directly related to the report.
He also defended the tone he took during the select committee and quoted former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, claiming he was only ever a counter-puncher.
“I never hit them first,” Seymour said with a grin.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
