Salesa JennyEDUCATION AMENDMENT BILL (NO 2)First ReadingHon JENNY SALESA (Associate Minister of Education) on behalf of the Minister of Education: I move That the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) be now read a first time. I nominate the Education and Workforce Committee to consider this bill. At the appropriate time the Minister of Education will move that the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) be reported to the House by 21 March 2019 and that the committee have authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 191 and 194(1)(b) and (c). The Education Amendment Bill (No 2) amends the Education Act 1989 the Education Act 1964 and the Education (Update) Amendment Act of 2017. The bill ensures that key Education Council decisions are made in the context of Government policy; second requires private schools to be safe places for our students; third repeals recent legislation on communities of online learning to provide time for a public debate on the future of distance and other forms of online learning; and fourth provides more effective and efficient provisions on cohort entry for children over the age of five years old. The bill will ensure the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand's decisions on matters relating to teaching professions are made within the context of Government policy. As we know the Education Council has a range of high-profile functions including setting standards for teacher education and setting teacher registration criteria. There is a high degree of public interest in these and other council roles and there needs to be the opportunity for the Government to influence the council's work on behalf of all New Zealanders.The Education Council has significant influence over the quality of teaching and the supply and diversity of the teaching workforce. This creates a substantial public interest in its work which affects all New Zealanders children and young people in particular. For this reason it is important that Education Council decisions take into account Government policy for the wider education system. The Education Amendment Bill (No 2) requires the council to consult the Minister of Education before making changes to the standards of qualifications that lead to teacher registration and to teacher registration criteria. It will also give the Minister discretion to issue a Government policy direction relating to one or more of the council's functions. If the Minister issues a policy direction the council must have regard to it when performing those functions. These provisions will ensure that the public interest is protected and that the Government is able to respond to Education Council proposals and decisions in a timely manner.State and State integrated schools are required to ensure their school is a physically and emotionally safe place for all of our students and staff. The Government considers that the minimum standards of safety for students expected in the State system should also apply to private schools. At present there is nothing in the private school registration criteria that enables the Secretary for Education to consider the physical and emotional safety of our students. This bill changes this so that students' physical and emotional safety is considered by the secretary when assessing a private school's application for registration. A private school's registration may be cancelled if the secretary has concerns about the safety of the school students and the Education Review Office can review the private school's safety policies and procedures.The Education (Update) Amendment Act of 2017 introduced a new regime to expand the provision of distance education through communities of online learning. These provisions allowed for distance education for part-time and full-time tuition and enabled accreditation of distance education provision by public or private providers through a statutory accreditation system. The Education Amendment Bill (No 2) repeals these provisions. In so doing there will be more time to consider the future of online learning in Aotearoa New Zealand with all affected communities in the context of wider education sector reviews. Existing providers such as Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu The Correspondence School and the virtual learning networks will continue to offer distant education on the same basis that they do now.Before 2017 State schools had to allow children to start school on or after their fifth birthday. The 2017 amendments to the Education Act of 1989 enabled schools to adopt policies where children could start school on the first day of term closest to their fifth birthday. This effectively means that some of our four-year-olds can currently start school which is inconsistent with the recommendations of the 2015 Advisory Group on Early Learning. Under the proposed changes if a school adopts a cohort entry policy only children over the age of five years would be able to start school in a cohort. There will be two entry points: on the first day of term and at the midpoint during a term. The two entry points per term will give parents more flexibility to determine when their child starts school. Parents and the Government will not have to pay as much in fees to keep their children in early childhood education for longer and schools will have more manageable cohort sizes. To ensure that schools have time to consider and make new arrangements any existing cohort entry policies will expire on 1 January 2020 and new policies will be able to take effect from that date.In conclusion this bill will continue to improve education in Aotearoa New Zealand. In particular it will protect the public's interest in Education Council decisions it will require private schools to be safe places for our students it will provide time for a public debate on the future of distance and other forms of online learning in the context of wider education sector reviews and it will enable school boards to adopt a cohort entry policy for children at least five years of age and will now not allow four-year-olds to start school. I now commend the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) the House. Tēnā koe.