NZSTA has extended its congratulations to the Tomorrow’s Schools Review Panel named by Minister Hipkins today.

All the members of the panel; Bali Haque (Chair), Barbara Ala’alatoa, Mere Berryman, John O’Neill and Cathy Wylie are well known and highly respected within the education sector.

"We have great respect for each of these people individually, and together they will bring a formidable amount of integrity and intellectual rigour to the process," says NZSTA President Lorraine Kerr.

"The panel has a phenomenal task ahead of it, and this is a good group to undertake the challenge. We are confident that this panel is up to the job," she says.

The previous taskforce, which met in 1998 under the chairmanship of Brian Picot, developed the blueprint for a system that established key agencies such as the Ministry of Education, the Education Review Office and the Education Council, and cemented in community participation in, and ownership of their local school through a locally elected board of trustees.

The recommendations of the Picot Taskforce, and the Tomorrow’s Schools system that has evolved from them, marked a huge step forward, and NZSTA anticipates that the present review will be equally significant. NZSTA is looking forward to engaging in the conversation and is actively encouraging its member boards to start discussing the issues with their local school communities as soon as possible.

"We are looking forward to some courageous conversations about every part of the system over the coming months, and how we can make the next step change," Lorraine says.

"One thing we are supremely confident about is the central role of community-based boards of trustees as the foundation stone of the system. It’s a great system. Can we improve it? You bet. We have some thoughts on that ourselves. Is it worth the effort? Absolutely!"

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