Leaked Documents Say Kāhui Ako School Programme 'Set To Be Disestablished'

Tuesday, 6 May 2025, 2:46 pm
Article: RNZ

John Gerritsen, Education correspondent

A second leak of Education Ministry documents shows the government is forging ahead with plans to axe a $118 million school programme and redirect the money to support for disabled learners.

The two images of a 10 April document, obtained by the Labour Party and sighted by RNZ, said Kāhui Ako was "set to be disestablished effective from Budget 2025".

They showed a governance paper titled 'Update on Disestablishing Kahui Ako (Budget Sensitive)', which referred to a plan of 15 actions for disestablishing the scheme.

"The release of Kāhui Ako funding is critical to meeting the Budget 2025 commitments for Learning Support," it said.

Last month, RNZ received a separate leak that showed the government was planning to cut the scheme in February.

The leaks came just weeks after Education Minister Erica Stanford told RNZ the ministry was doing a stellar job, a sharp turnaround from the three-out-of-10 rating she gave the ministry for its annual report last year.

Successive governments have struggled to decide what to do with Kāhui Ako, also known as 'Communities of Learning', since they were set up by a National-led government in 2014.

The scheme grouped 1958 schools and 1506 early learning centres together to work on common problems.

One principal in each group was paid $25-30,000 extra to lead the work of their Kāhui Ako, teachers working to spread good practice across each group of schools received $16,000 extra and teachers working within schools $8000 more each.

The February report obtained by RNZ said disestablishing the scheme would cost $39m over two years, but save $118m a year by 2027.

Labour education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime said the leaks indicated people were not happy with the government's decision.

"When information like this is shared, which is Budget-sensitive, I think it does show that there is concern and disillusionment around what the minister is doing, and the lack of process in terms of what the minister is doing."

Prime said the government should consult affected schools and teachers, because thousands of staff were affected.

"The key issue here is that it is really unclear what the government is doing, why they are doing it and what their process is, and what I am hearing from teachers is that they are confused. There has been, to my knowledge, no consultation with schools around this, yet it is going to majorly impact schools and many roles."

Asked if she would keep the scheme or drop it if she were Education Minister, Prime said she would need to see the evidence and advice that Education Minister Erica Stanford had received.

Not all teachers support Kāhui Ako, but those who backed the scheme told RNZ the decision was gutting.

Members of the Puketeraki Kāhui Ako said the scheme should continue and they were open to discussions about how it might be improved.

Tūtira Ashgrove School principal Leon Van't Veen was disappointed the scheme was being ended without any consultation.

"It's really disappointing and I personally feel gutted, because I feel that all the mahi that's gone in to date can just be disestablished, just at the snap of fingers," he said. "It's just real shame that this is all being done to us, not with us."

Van't Veen said Kāhui Ako could not continue their work on the same scale without government funding.

Kelly Scanlan was the early childhood rep for the Puketeraki Kāhui Ako. She said the end of the scheme would be bad news for the early learning centres involved.

"Just hearing this now just kills you," she said. "What will happen is 20 early childhood centres that have no provisions for professional development will lose everything."

Brian Price was the lead principal for both the Puketeraki Kāhui Ako and the national association for Kāhui Ako. He said the groups of schools provided valuable jobs that helped prepare skilled teachers for further leadership roles.

"I'm disappointed about that, because those people have given their heart and soul to education. They're passionate, dedicated, they've been recognised by their schools and they've been given a pathway.

"You can see I'm really gutted by this, because these people have worked so hard."

Education consultant Julia Tod was the very first teacher hired for a Kāhui Ako across-school teaching role and later studied the programme for her doctorate. She said the scheme provided valuable leadership experience for teachers and also opportunities for those who back-filled their roles, while they were doing Kāhui Ako work.

That would be hard to replace.

"It's hard graft to be in education anyway and the opportunity for professional support, as well as being able to get the extra funding that came with those opportunities, is something that our teaching profession was crying out for," she said. "My question for the minister is what is she going to do next."

Dr Tod said Kahui Ako improved children's achievement, but their overall impact was never collated nationally.

She said the clusters of schools had not all worked well and she could understand the government's rationale for making changes.

© Scoop Media

RNZ

New Zealand's public broadcaster, providing comprehensive NZ news and current affairs, specialist audio features and documentaries.

Radio New Zealand is a Crown entity established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. Radio New Zealand News are vital elements in our programming, providing impartial news and information to New Zealanders every day. Radio New Zealand (RNZ) provides listeners with exciting and independent radio programmes in accordance with the Radio New Zealand Charter.

Contact RNZ

• Website - www.radionz.co.nz
• Twitter - @rnz_news
• Facebook
• Link - Contact RNZ