The Public Service Commission has published its investigation into the Teaching Council’s procurement and conflicts of interest management.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller

The Public Service Commission says the Teaching Council fell well short of public sector standards in its management of procurement and conflicts of interest.

The commission has published its investigation into procurement and conflict of interest management involving the advertising firm Clemenger, digital engagement services, and te reo Māori instruction, translation, and Māori cultural advice.

“Our investigation found that on multiple occasions between late 2018 and early 2025, the Teaching Council conducted procurement activities which did not comply with its internal policies and fell short of relevant system guidance. Some of these procurement activities also involved a conflict of interest which, in our view, was not appropriately identified or managed,” it said.

“This was not an issue of technical non-compliance. Key steps in the requisite processes did not occur, creating significant organisational and reputational risks. The Teaching Council’s management of these activities fell short (and sometimes well short) of the standards expected in the public sector. This has the potential to undermine public trust in the organisation.”

The report said the council’s chief executive, Lesley Hoskin, had a conflict of interest with regard to Clemenger because her husband is the company’s managing director and has shares in the company.

It said the council engaged Clemenger for three projects, and though Hoskin declared the conflict and was not involved in awarding the contracts there was “varying compliance” with the council’s procurement policy.

“Many of the contracts linked to these initiatives were not procured through competitive processes, and the grounds for exemption from this requirement in the Teaching

Council’s procurement policy were not thoroughly considered, documented or approved. We have particularly serious concerns about a contract related to the communications strategy initiative, which was finalised for a value of $570,000 (later varied to $530,000) following a Request for Proposal (RFP) indicating a value of $75,000. The description of services provided under this contract also differed significantly from the workstreams identified in the RFP.”

The report said the council engaged two contractors for “digital engagement” without a competitive process, creating a risk of perceived bias or favouritism, though there was no evidence of conflicts of interest.

It said multiple contracts for te reo Māori instruction, translation and cultural advice did not comply with internal procurement policy but there was no evidence that the deputy chief executive sponsoring the projects had a conflict of interest.

The report said the council had “low maturity” in conflict management because it relied on annual declarations of conflicts of interest rather than actively managing them.

“The Teaching Council’s sole approach to managing the Chief Executive’s conflict in relation to Clemenger was to exclude her from any procurement and contract management process. This was an overly simplistic approach and not sufficient to manage the Chief Executive’s conflict of interest. In particular, very little was done to manage the considerable perception risks arising from the conflict. To the contrary those risks were exacerbated markedly by poor procurement practices as

set out below,” the report said.

It said Hoskin did not declare her husband’s shareholding in Clemenger which created a financial interest in a company that benefited from contracts with the council.

“The Chief Executive did not disclose her husband’s shareholding to the Chair of the Governing Council, or to senior leaders managing contracts with Clemenger beyond the verbal declaration to Deputy Chief Executive A in 2018. While the Chief Executive reliably disclosed the conflict created by her husband’s position, her omission of the shareholding interest showed a lack of understanding of the nature of conflicts.”

The Teaching Council said its governing council had started an employment process concerning the chief executive, Lesley Hoskin.

“It is clear from the PSC investigation and other reviews that significant improvement is needed across the Teaching Council,” it said in a statement.

“The governing council – many of whom are past and present teachers and principals – are fully committed to immediate change to restore teachers’ trust and confidence in their professional regulatory body.”

The council said it was working on an action plan to strengthen its conflict-of-interest, contract allocation, and procurement practices.

“The five-point action plan will improve capability, procurement approaches, decision-making processes, governance oversight and operational guidelines throughout the organisation. It will also ensure stronger scrutiny and documentation of any exemptions to procurement policy,” it said.

Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the report painted a concerning picture about the council.

“The Council is responsible for upholding high professional standards for teachers,” he said.

“It must also meet the highest standards itself. In this case, basic public sector expectations were not met, and in some areas the Council fell well short.

“These shortcomings created avoidable organisational and reputational risks and have the potential to undermine trust in the Teaching Council.”

‘Two extraordinarily serious reports’

Education Minister Erica Stanford said the review showed serious problems and followed a recent report that found the council should pay more attention to child safety.

“There’s two extraordinarily serious reports back-to-back now,” she said.

Asked if she had confidence in the council, Stanford criticised its former leaders.

“I have very serious concerns about the previous board and the leadership, the chair and the deputy chair of the previous board, who were not asking the right questions, who should have known, and it’s no excuse to say they didn’t know, they should have known. That’s what a good governance board is accountable for,” she said.

“But I have since replaced a lot of the board members with extraordinarily successful principals, people who understand governance, regulatory bodies and also good finance and risk people so I’m confident the new board know exactly what they need to do.”

However, Stanford’s appointments and changes have themselves been subject to accusations of conflicts of interest and failure to follow Teaching Council rules.

In January teacher union the NZEI and the Council of Deans of Education alleged conflicts of interest between the minister and her appointee as chair of the council, David Ferguson.

And in December the council’s interim chief executive resigned as a member of the council’s governing body after RNZ inquired about the legality of the appointment given the council’s constitution forbade a board member from holding the position.

Education groups have been highly critical of Stanford’s overhaul of the council which will result in a majority of its members being ministerial appointees and some of its responsibilities shifting to the Education Ministry.

Stanford today indicated she might go further.

“I’ve got some more changes coming but I’ve also taken further policy advice on what more I might need to do in order to make sure there is better oversight, monitoring and accountability of this independent entity because that’s how we got here – there was no proper oversight, no proper monitoring and no proper accountability and if we don’t tidy that up we’ll be back here again in a few years,” she said.