State primary school, Millerton. Creator unknown :Photographs of West Coast Schools. Ref: 1/4–002850-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. natlib.govt.nz/records/22778143
This is a story of centralisation versus decentralisation. As it turns out, that is the story of education administration in New Zealand schools.
Prior to the establishment of New Zealand’s provincial governments in the 1850s, education was largely in the hands of churches and private enterprise. With provincial governance came provincial education boards that had the responsibility of administering public primary schools in their districts. Many schools continued to be run by churches.
Almost as soon as the provinces were founded, an enduring debate raged in parliament about their existence. The ‘centralists’ who wanted stronger central government won the debate over the ‘provincialists’ who wanted to strengthen provincial governance. The provinces were abolished and central government took over the running of schools across the nation.
Under the Education Act 1877, New Zealand schooling was to be government-funded, fees-free, secular and compulsory for all children aged seven to 13. Regional education boards were established, taking over from the provincial boards, and they largely focused on public primary education. The new Department of Education supervised the education boards and prescribed the school syllabus.
While secondary schools had always remained separated from the education boards, the Secondary Schools Act 1903 created a model whereby they retained separation by having their own Board of Governors, but this board was responsible directly to the Education Department.
The Education Act 1914 concentrated more power into the hands of central government. Primary school inspectors were centralised into the Education Department rather than having them based out in the education boards, and regular inspections led to a national graded list of primary school teachers being used as a basis for appointments to positions. The Education Department also began to provide funding for secondary schools and increased their influence over these schools.
By the 1960s, the education boards had been delegated the responsibility of running intermediate and secondary schools, but each school retained some independence by keeping their Boards of Governors.Teachers Colleges that began under the control of the education boards ended up with their own independent boards, contrary to the trend of centralisation.
It was not until the 1980s that the model that had lasted over a hundred years, a centralised school system under the control of the Department of Education and regional education boards, dramatically changed. The government appointed a task force to review education administration in New Zealand schools and at the end of a year long review acted on the recommendations of the task force to decentralise the system.
The era of the Tomorrow’s Schools reform began with the Education Act 1989. The Department of Education and the regional education boards were abolished and a new Ministry of Education, along with supporting review agencies, was set up to supervise parent-elected Boards of Trustees in each and every public school.
Today in 2018, a new taskforce has been set up by the government to review the education administration reform of the past 30 years and to make its recommendations by the end of the year.
One key member of the task force has written a book suggesting that regional authorities be established to link schools together and that a single agency be created to replace the Ministry of Education and its review agencies.
The review is currently ongoing.