education.govt.nz

The Ministry of Education (education.govt.nz) is currently highlighting three key initiatives — attendance, improving achievement, and learning support — alongside a set of recent updates covering health guidance for school attendance, curriculum releases for Years 11–13 and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and new requirements for Term 4 2026. This page is most useful if you are a parent, school leader, or education professional who wants a quick read on what the Ministry is prioritising and what has changed recently, rather than detailed operational guidance.

Key initiatives the Ministry is promoting

The homepage groups its current priorities under "Key initiatives." Three are named:

• Attendance — framed around the idea that going to school every day matters for developing skills for lifelong learning.
• Improving achievement — stated as a goal that all children achieve their potential regardless of where they are.
• Learning support — described as strengthening learning support so the education system meets the needs of all learners and their families.

Each initiative links to a "Find out more" page. The homepage itself only gives the framing statement, so treat these as entry points rather than full explanations.

Latest news and updates

The "Latest news" section lists recent items with dates. From the page evidence:

Two patterns are worth noting. First, the curriculum work is being released in stages — the Years 11–13 subjects came out in an initial set, with more subjects still under consultation (see below). Second, the Term 4 2026 item is explicitly about new requirements for schools, so it is aimed at school staff rather than parents.

Open consultations ("Have your say")

The Ministry is currently seeking feedback on several items. Each has a closing date:

• Review of Initial Teacher Education Programme Requirements — closes 13 November 2026. Feedback on a discussion document exploring opportunities to strengthen the ITE Programme Requirements; responses inform the next stage of work.
• Maheno School proposed new enrolment scheme — closes 30 October 2026.
• Additional senior secondary subjects — closes 29 October 2026. Two more subjects in the updated Years 11–13 curriculum are open for review and feedback.

If you want to influence the curriculum or teacher education requirements, these are time-boxed windows. The enrolment scheme consultation is a local matter specific to Maheno School.

Related Ministry websites

The homepage points to other sites in the Ministry's network, which is useful if the main portal does not cover what you need:

• Education Gazette — articles to inform and inspire, plus job vacancies, notices, and professional development opportunities.
• Education Workforce — information on becoming a teacher in New Zealand and career development within the sector.

How to use this

If your goal is to understand what the Ministry is focused on right now, start with the three key initiatives and then scan the latest news for anything dated after your last check. If you need to act — submit feedback, prepare for Term 4 2026 requirements, or plan for the 2027 curriculum — go directly to the relevant item and its closing or implementation date rather than relying on the homepage summary. The homepage gives you the signal; the linked pages carry the detail.

education.govt.nz is the official web portal of the New Zealand Ministry of Education. It is a central hub for information about education in New Zealand, aimed at parents, whānau, schools, kura, and education professionals. You can use it to find practical information such as school terms and holidays, a school finder, the Parent Portal, licensing criteria, and collective agreements, as well as updates on key initiatives, latest news, and public consultations.

Who the site is for

The portal serves several audiences, and the homepage signals this with a dedicated "Education professionals" heading alongside content for families and whānau.

• Parents and whānau — looking for practical information about schools, attendance, learning support, and their child's education.
• Schools and kura — needing curriculum updates, requirements, and operational guidance.
• Education professionals — seeking career information, collective agreements, and sector news.
• Anyone interested in the sector — following policy changes, consultations, and announcements.

What you can find on the homepage

The homepage is organised around a few recurring blocks. These are the main entry points:

Popular links

A quick-access list of the most commonly needed items, including:

• Terms and holidays
• Find a school
• Parent Portal
• Licensing criteria
• Collective agreements

Key initiatives

Current priority areas for the education system, each with a short explanation and a link to more detail. Examples shown on the site include:

• Attendance — going to school every day is described as important for students to develop skills for lifelong learning.
• Improving achievement — the stated goal is for all children to achieve their potential no matter where they are.
• Learning support — strengthening learning support so the education system meets the needs of all learners and their families.

Latest news

A feed of news and updates, with a "View all news and updates" link. Examples of featured items include:

• Guidance on how to decide if a child is well enough to be at school or early learning, with information from Health New Zealand for schools, early learning services, and whānau.
• The first release of final subjects for Years | Tau 11 to 13.
• An overview of new requirements for schools for Term 4 2026.
• The release of the fully updated Te Marautanga o Aotearoa for Tau 0 to 10, available for schools and kura to start using in 2027.

Have your say

A section for public consultations, each with an open or closed status and a closing date. Examples include:

Our websites

Links to related Ministry sites, including:

• Education Gazette — education articles to inform and inspire, plus job vacancies, notices, and professional development opportunities.
• Education Workforce — information on becoming a teacher in New Zealand and career development opportunities within the education sector.

How to use the site

1. Start with the search box if you know what you are looking for — the homepage provides a site search.
2. Use Popular links for common tasks such as checking term dates or finding a school.
3. Check Key initiatives if you want to understand current priorities and what is changing in the system.
4. Read Latest news for recent announcements and requirements.
5. Visit Have your say if you want to submit feedback on an open consultation before its closing date.

What to keep in mind

• The site is a portal, so much of the detailed information sits on pages linked from the homepage rather than on the homepage itself.
• Consultation dates and curriculum release dates shown on the site are specific and time-bound — check the current status before relying on them.
• Some content is provided in te reo Māori alongside English, reflecting the bilingual context of New Zealand education.

If you are a parent, whānau member, school, kura, or education professional in New Zealand, education.govt.nz is the starting point for official information about the education system.

The Ministry of Education's website, education.govt.nz, puts the three things you're most likely to need — Terms and holidays, Find a school, and the Parent Portal — in its "Popular links" section on the homepage. That row of links is the fastest route to each task, so start there rather than searching the site.

Finding term dates and holidays

1. Go to the education.govt.nz homepage.
2. In the Popular links section, select Terms and holidays.
3. Use the page to check the school year dates you need.

This is the official source for the dates New Zealand schools and kura follow, so it's the page to check before booking travel or planning around a break. Note that the site also lists Collective agreements and Licensing criteria in the same Popular links row — useful if you're a teacher or an early learning service rather than a parent, but not what you need for term dates.

Finding and comparing a school

1. From the homepage, select Find a school in the Popular links section.
2. Use the tool to locate a school and view its details.

The homepage doesn't spell out exactly which fields the tool returns, so treat it as the starting point for identifying a school and its information, then follow through to the school's own page for anything specific you need to confirm.

The Parent Portal and other entry points

If you're a parent or whānau member rather than someone looking for a single fact, the Parent Portal in Popular links is the intended entry point — it gathers the information parents tend to need in one place.

Beyond Popular links, the homepage is organised into a few other blocks worth knowing about:

When to use which route

• Just need dates? Go straight to Terms and holidays.
• Choosing or checking a school? Use Find a school.
• New to the system or supporting a child? Start with the Parent Portal.
• Looking for something that isn't a date or a school? Try the search box at the top of the homepage, or check Latest news and Key initiatives, since new requirements and curriculum updates are announced there.

One practical note: the homepage's Latest news and Have your say sections carry dated items — for example, consultation deadlines and term-specific requirement updates. If you're relying on a date you saw earlier, re-check the page, because these entries change through the year.

You can have your say on Ministry of Education consultations through the "Have your say" section of education.govt.nz, which lists open public consultations with a closing date for each one. The page is aimed at anyone affected by a proposal — parents and whānau, teachers, school and kura leaders, and other education professionals — and it is the entry point for submitting feedback before a consultation closes.

Where to find open consultations

The "Have your say" section sits on the education.govt.nz home page and links to a full list of public consultations. Each entry shows the consultation name, its status (open), and the date it closes.

From the page evidence, the consultations listed at the time of writing were:

This shows the range of things you can comment on: national policy on how teachers are trained, a local school's enrolment zone, and changes to the senior secondary curriculum.

How to submit feedback

1. Open the "Have your say" section from the home page and select the consultation you want to respond to.
2. Read the consultation document or proposal. For the Initial Teacher Education review, this is a discussion document exploring opportunities to strengthen the ITE Programme Requirements.
3. Check the closing date before you start — feedback after the close date will not be part of that round.
4. Follow the submission instructions on the individual consultation page. The format differs by consultation: some ask for feedback on a discussion document, others on a specific proposal such as a new enrolment scheme.

The expected result is that your submission is recorded against that consultation and feeds into the next stage of the work.

What happens to your feedback

The Ministry states what your feedback will be used for on each consultation page. For the Initial Teacher Education review, feedback "will inform the next stage of work." For the curriculum consultations, the subjects are "available for review and feedback," meaning comments shape the updated Years | Tau 11–13 curriculum before it is finalised.

This is the key mechanism: consultations are not a vote, they are an input into a defined next step — a revised programme requirement, a confirmed enrolment scheme, or a finalised subject list.

Practical points before you write

• Note the close date first. The three open consultations above close within about two weeks of each other, so check the specific date rather than assuming a standard window.
• Match your feedback to the document. A discussion document invites views on options and direction; a proposed enrolment scheme invites views on a specific boundary or zone.
• Use the correct consultation. If your interest is in a local school, look for that school's proposal rather than a national review.
• Check back. The list changes as consultations open and close, so the open items you see today may be replaced by new ones.

If nothing on the current list covers your concern, the "Have your say" section is still the place to watch — new consultations are added there as they open.

The Ministry of Education's own site, education.govt.nz, links out to a set of affiliated websites under an "Our websites" section. These are separate destinations for specific audiences and purposes: Education Gazette for sector news, job vacancies, notices, and professional development; Education Workforce for people exploring teaching as a career or developing one in New Zealand; and Tāhūrangi for curriculum and teaching resources. If you are looking for news, a teaching job, career-change information, or classroom material, start with the relevant affiliated site rather than the main ministry homepage.

The affiliated sites listed under "Our websites"

The homepage presents these as a distinct group, separate from the popular links and key initiatives sections. Based on the site's own descriptions:

The Ministry also points to a full index — "View all websites" — so the group above is not necessarily the complete list. If the site you need is not shown on the homepage, use that link to see the rest.

Which site to use for what

News, notices, and sector information

Education Gazette is the destination for articles aimed at the education sector, along with notices and professional development listings. Use it when you want sector-facing coverage rather than ministry announcements — the ministry's own "Latest news" and "Have your say" sections stay on education.govt.nz.

Job vacancies

Vacancies sit on Education Gazette, not on the main ministry site. If you are searching for a role in a school or education organisation, go there directly.

Becoming a teacher or developing your career

Education Workforce covers entering the profession in New Zealand and career development within the sector. This is the starting point for career-change questions, rather than the ministry homepage.

Curriculum and teaching resources

Tāhūrangi is the platform for curriculum and teaching material. Note that curriculum updates themselves are announced on education.govt.nz — for example, the first release of Years 11 to 13 subjects and the updated Te Marautanga o Aotearoa for Tau 0–10 — while the resources to teach them live on the resource platform.

Where these fit on the homepage

The "Our websites" section sits alongside other homepage groupings, so it helps to know what stays on education.govt.nz:

• POPULAR LINKS — Terms and holidays, Find a school, Parent Portal, Licensing criteria, Collective agreements
• Key initiatives — Attendance, Improving achievement, Learning support
• Latest news — ministry news and updates
• Have your say — public consultations, such as the review of Initial Teacher Education Programme Requirements and proposed enrolment schemes
• Our websites — the affiliated destinations described above

In short: practical parent and school-finding tools, initiatives, news, and consultations stay on the ministry site; sector news, vacancies, workforce career information, and teaching resources move to the affiliated sites.

A quick way to decide

• Looking for term dates, a school, or the Parent Portal? Stay on education.govt.nz.
• Want education-sector articles, a job, or professional development? Go to Education Gazette.
• Thinking about becoming a teacher or progressing your career? Go to Education Workforce.
• Need curriculum or teaching resources? Go to Tāhūrangi.
• Not sure whether a site belongs to the Ministry? Check the "Our websites" group, then use "View all websites" for the full list.