Dear Minister: Some Questions from the Back of the SPANZ Conference
Just in case we don't get to the questions today....
Dear Minister of Education,
Today I find myself about to head off to the final day of the SPANZ 2026 conference, surrounded by many of my fellow secondary principals. It has been a great few days of learning and connection. You should be proud of the incredibly diversity of leaders and leadership here and the deep care and concern that each and every one of them show for our young people.
This morning, you are due to address us. We had initially hoped you would come and speak with us in person. Then we heard that you were no longer available and that we would instead receive a recording. Then, yesterday, we received the news that you would actually be joining us live, albeit from another place.
I know this morning was supposed to be an opportunity for us to ask questions. I also acknowledge that half an hour is very little time for robust discussion with a room full of secondary principals, all carrying the weight of leading schools through a period of significant change.
So I thought it might be useful to put some of my questions and wonderings here.
Why all the hurry?
We keep hearing statements about why everything needs to be changed “at pace”.
From where we sit, it feels like we are being forced to run a race that we did not design, on a track that keeps shifting, towards a finish line that has not been properly explained.
I understand that, as a politician, it matters that you are seen to be taking action. I understand the pressure to show results within a first term. But meaningful change takes time. Lasting change takes people with it. Effective change requires the trust, expertise and engagement of those who will be asked to deliver it.
At the moment, too many of us feel as though we are being left behind, time and time again.
It feels like a false sense of urgency has been created. Those of us working in schools know the harm that rushed change can cause. We know what happens when implementation is demanded before design is understood. We know what happens when teachers are expected to absorb wave after wave of reform while still doing the daily work of teaching, mentoring, supporting and caring for young people.
Education is far too important to be treated as a race.
What is behind the fear of diversity and diverse definitions of success?
Those of us on the ground, in playgrounds, classrooms, corridors and staffrooms, know first-hand that young people do not all learn in the same way.
Every young person comes to us with a life load of experiences. They come with challenges, gifts, differences, histories, cultures, languages, strengths and stories. When we are at our best as educators, we recognise those things and build from them.
One of the strengths of a broader curriculum and of NCEA has been the ability to mould, shape and support learning in ways that recognise young people’s strengths, backgrounds, heritage and aspirations. It has allowed us to create pathways that make sense for different learners. It has allowed more young people to experience success in ways that are meaningful, rigorous and real.
I am deeply worried about the impact of an increasingly standardised curriculum, an increasingly narrowed curriculum and increasingly narrowed definitions of success.
I worry about what this will do to the beautiful young people who come to us in all shapes and sizes, with different experiences, different families and different futures ahead of them.
Please reconsider narrowing the curriculum.
Please reconsider narrowing what and how we assess.
Please reconsider the assumption that more flexible pathways somehow mean lower expectations.
I hope, in the longer term, you can see that there is nothing to fear from more young people succeeding. I hope you can move past the idea that young people have been “gaming the system” and recognise that, in many cases, they were shaping the system to meet their specific needs and strengths. Their teachers were not lowering the bar. They were looking for every possible opportunity for that young person to experience success, build confidence and keep moving forward.
I want to be clear. I am not suggesting that our current curriculum or NCEA are perfect. They are not. There is absolutely room to strengthen both.
But can we please strengthen them in a way that recognises what we often say at Albany Senior High School: it is not if you’re bright, it’s how you’re bright.
We serve incredible, diverse young people. They deserve a system that sees them, recognises their strengths and enables more of them to succeed.
Why have you stopped listening to diverse voices and experts?
It has been hard to ignore the quiet disappearance of experts from across curriculum areas.
Iwi partners have been shut out of boardrooms and expert groups. The incredible work that informed Te Mātaiaho has been lost, reshaped and moulded into a colonial framework that leaves the original work almost unrecognisable.
Across the board, it feels as though curriculum experts have been shut out of the room.
We keep hearing about reference groups and writing groups that have become smaller and smaller. It feels like anyone engaged under the previous government, or with a previous Minister of Education, has been shown the door.
Back in the early 2010s, I was lucky enough to work closely with Minister Nikki Kaye as part of the 21st Century Learning Reference Group. This was under a National government. Nikki Kaye was, of course, a proud National Party member. But I remember how deliberately she worked to make sure there were diverse voices around the table.
She understood that different perspectives matter. She understood that robust conversation can lead to better thinking. She understood that including people who do not already agree with you is not a barrier to progress. It is often the very thing that makes progress more durable.
Yes, engaging diverse voices takes longer. It may slow down the procedural work. It may make it harder to deliver tidy announcements at the pace currently being pursued.
But those of us who lead schools and classrooms know that taking a little more time, listening to different perspectives and testing ideas with the people who will have to implement them will always result in better, more inclusive solutions. It creates change that can stand the test of time.
What research and evidence is informing your decision-making?
I ask this because many jurisdictions and systems around the world appear to be moving in a different direction.
Just as we look to reintroduce A, B, C, D, E and F into our qualification system, we are hearing from colleagues across the ditch in Australia that they are moving away from this kind of approach.
If we look to the UK, which seems to be the source of many of the ideas and assumptions currently being imported into our reforms, even there we can see signs of a shift. They are grappling with the limitations of standardisation, narrow subjects and exam-heavy systems. They are recognising that this approach has not delivered the broad, equitable and future-focused outcomes that young people need.
You have spoken about the importance of international benchmarking and about New Zealand having qualifications that can be understood and valued alongside those in other systems.
So it is interesting to see the International Baccalaureate launching a new programme focused on systems transformation. This programme engages young people in meaningful, cross-curricular, project-based learning, with no exams. Students work on large-scale, long-term, robust projects focused on the challenges we see in the world today. The aim is to equip young people to be empathetic, caring, capable problem-solvers.
I also look to the work of the OECD and the recent report by Michael Stevenson, Education for Human Flourishing: A Conceptual Framework. The report shifts education goals away from narrow metrics toward holistic well-being, character building, and adapting to an AI-driven world, which again speaks to the need for education systems that enable young people to engage with the world around them and solve real problems.
There is a growing international conversation about the need for education to be more connected, more human, more interdisciplinary and more responsive to the complexity young people are inheriting.
So I genuinely wonder: what research and evidence is informing the decisions being made here?
Could you trust us?
This is my final question(s) and my plea.
Would it be possible for you to trust us?
Could you listen to us?
Could you take the time to work with us to design, co-design, create and implement the meaningful and inclusive changes our education system needs?
The principals, teachers, support staff, iwi partners, families and communities working in and around our schools are not obstacles to reform. We are the people who understand the realities of implementation. We are the people who know the young people these changes will affect. We are the people who can help make change work, if we are genuinely included in the process.
I know you have argued that this work is too important to wait.
I would put it differently.
It is far too important to rush.
Our young people, our educators and our communities deserve better.
Nā mihi nui,
Claire Amos
Principal, Albany Senior High School
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This is brilliantly written and very thought provoking. For me it's worth remembering that previous government Ministers from both of the major parties have listened. Nikki Kaye is a great example as was Jan Tinetti. This Minister has not and will not until there is a change of government.
Brilliant letter, it might be a bit much for her to process in one sitting but if we could get transparent, honest answers I’m sure we can wait a few days.
I’m very concerned that the minister has not prioritised attending SPANZ, it should be a date ring-fenced immediately the dates for the year are announced. It should be exactly the same for the NZPA conference dates. This is her best chance to connect with school leaders and to hear their concerns while sharing her own and hopefully finding some common ground. Like her party leader she is not making herself available to the public, very disappointing. She’s not the only education minister who has had to enter a room full of testy educational leaders. Hekia fronted every year as did the others. Yet here’s our Erica remaining outside the room she really needs to be in, in the spirit of respect and learning.