Curriculum changes ignore crucial evidence from England's education review

The New Zealand Principals' Federation has today published a report exposing holes in the government's plans for a 'knowledge-rich curriculum'. The NZPF report captures crucial lessons from England's experience that our government should be applying when revising the New Zealand curriculum.

"The Minister of Education claims she is focused on closing the gap between our highest and lowest performing students, yet the Government is implementing an education framework that will almost certainly make things worse," says New Zealand Principals' Federation President Leanne Otene.

"The evidence clearly shows that a knowledge-based curriculum fails to deliver the improvements in educational equity it claims to promote. It ignores the fact that students are individuals, many with diverse needs that require different education strategies to succeed.

"After 10 years, England's education equity gap remained notably wide, and those with special educational needs continued to fall behind their peers.

"If we don't hit pause now and rethink what we're doing to New Zealand's education system, we are going to go down the same path England did.

"We risk making the equity gap in our schools even wider. We risk the futures of our most vulnerable young people," she says.

High-performing countries such as Singapore, Japan, and South Korea are actively reforming their education systems to move away from rigid, knowledge-intensive frameworks toward curricula that foster creativity, critical thinking and advanced problem-solving skills. Similarly, Finland and other Nordic countries, which consistently rank among the world's top education systems, intentionally elevate their educational experience beyond basic recall of information.

"By connecting academic subjects to practical and real-world challenges, modern and high-performing education systems strive to make learning more relevant and engaging for their students," says Leanne.

"Our government is clearly not looking at the full breadth of international evidence when making sweeping changes to how our young people are taught.

"The Minister focuses on standardised assessments and easy metrics rather than tackling the inequities that would genuinely improve education for Aotearoa's young people," she says.

The Government is seeking feedback on the proposed Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill by 14 January 2026.

"NZPF will most certainly be making a submission on this wide-reaching proposal before the narrow feedback window closes on 14 January 2026," Otene says. "I encourage others to do so too before it is too late."

Read the New Zealand Principals' Federation report: https://nzpf.ac.nz/englands-knowledge-rich-curriculum-lessons-for-aotearoa-new-zealand/

Make a submission on the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill: https://bills.parliament.nz/v/6/65445e46-256b-4800-37f2-08de25831691?lang=en&Tab=history