The Ministry of Education (In Māori, Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga), is the primary state sector organisation of New Zealand responsible for New Zealand's education system. It was established in 1989 when the former, all-encompassing Department of Education was broken up into six separate agencies, including a new, small, policy-orientated ministry. As part of the reforms, regionalised Boards of Education were replaced by individual Boards of Trustees for all primary and secondary schools. New Zealand's Minister of Education is the Hon. Steve Maharey.
Responsibilities
The Ministry's role is to raise the overall level of educational achievement and reduce disparity. It is not an education provider. That role is met by individual elected Boards of Trustees for every state school in the country. The ministry has numerous functions - advising government, providing information to the sector, providing learning resources, administering sector regulation and funding, and providing specialist services. The ministry works with other education agencies including the Education Review Office, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Learning Media Limited.
External links
- Official website
- NZ Government explanation
- TeachNZ, the business unit of MoE
- Te Kete Ipurangi - The Online Learning Centre, an initiative of MoE
- The Education Gazette, published by MoE
- The Māori Language Education Team
- List of Services Provided by MoE
