Across Aotearoa, primary and early childhood educators are feeling the weight. Not just of workload, but of something heavier: a system shifting beneath them, policy by policy, decision by decision.
Most are too busy keeping classrooms afloat to track every document being released, every “refresh” quietly reframed, every headline announcing another reform already in motion. This overwhelm isn’t accidental. It’s the point.
When the sector is this tired, it becomes easier to ignore. Easier to isolate. Easier to silence.
Educators know the difference between consultation and compliance. And right now, it’s hard not to see the pace of change and lack of transparency as an attempt to keep professionals fragmented and reactive. The right hand doesn’t know what the left is doing. Not because the sector is disorganised, but because it’s being deliberately kept that way.
Operating in silos gives power to those with an agenda. The more disconnected we are from each other - ECE, primary, secondary - the more likely it is that significant, lasting change will be pushed through with minimal scrutiny.
But none of this is separate. The changes being proposed at secondary level will not stay there. If NCEA is narrowed, if local flexibility is stripped away, if standardised exams become the only measure of success, this will trickle down. It will reshape what matters in classrooms. It will impact how and what we teach. And it will reach right into the earliest years of education.
We cannot afford to pretend this is someone else’s fight.
The primary sector is already stretched to the edge. The ECE sector has been under strain for years. Curriculum narrowing, increased compliance, and high-stakes accountability will only make things worse. And the people who understand this best, our kaiako, our leaders, are too bloody exhausted to fight every battle alone.
This is where political leadership matters. Not performative concern. Not fence-sitting. We need voices in Parliament doing the heavy lifting. Connecting the dots. Asking the hard questions. Making the case for a sector-wide vision of education that values equity, honours Te Tiriti, and protects the profession from being whittled down by ideology and inertia.
To our political leaders: this is your job.
Hold the line.
Say what educators cannot always say for themselves right now.
And for those watching in the profession: stay informed. Share what you know. Don’t let the silos hold.
We are stronger, and louder, together.
What are we calling for – from the primary and ECE perspective?
This isn’t about being oppositional. It’s about responsibility and visibility.
We are calling for political leaders to show they understand that what is happening in education is not isolated to NCEA, or secondary schools. These proposed reforms are not just administrative changes, they are system-shaping decisions. If left unchecked, they will define what is valued in classrooms from early childhood to school-leaving age.
We are calling for a pause. For transparency. For proper scrutiny. And for political leadership that is willing to name the consequences of pushing through change without the trust or input of those who must carry it.
Because the profession is carrying too much, with too little. And it’s not sustainable.
We need an education system that holds together. Not one that leaves our youngest learners in a future shaped by narrowed curriculum, deficit assumptions, and performance pressures that do not belong in childhood.
This is a call for opposition leaders to look at the whole picture. To connect the dots. To say what the profession cannot always say loudly right now: that fragmentation, rushed reform, and political opportunism do not serve our tamariki.
The sector is stretched. The voices of educators are being sidelined. The space for genuine collaboration is shrinking. And that is exactly why political courage matters now more than ever.
A truly Tiriti-led, inclusive, and future-facing education system doesn’t emerge by chance. It takes work. Collaborative, cross-party, principled work.
We’re asking our leaders to do that work.
Because educators, across early childhood, primary, and secondary, are doing theirs.
ECE feels particularly heavy just now. Submissions on Education and Training Act 2020 (ECE) Amendment close Midday Mon 1 September