In New Zealand, \u201ccertificates of exemption\u201d from school are available through an online application on the ministry website, and usually remain valid until children reach 16 years old.<\/p>\n
As with most applications, no ministry officials visited Phillips to assess his suitability as a safe and effective home educator, and instead they relied on his written assurances.<\/p>\n
It is unclear if the recent amendment to the bill was a response to the Phillips revelation, which the ministry tried to keep secret by refusing the Herald\u2019s Official Information Act request for months. <\/p>\n
The ministry did not respond to the Herald\u2019s question if the screening process was reviewed after the Phillips saga.<\/p>\n
Tom Phillips convinced Ministry of Education officials he could educate his children \u201cas regularly and as well\u201d as qualified teachers at school.<\/p>\n
Sela Finau, Ministry of Education general manager learner success and Tiriti policy, told the Herald the process for approving certificates of exemption from regular schooling \u201cremains the same\u201d.<\/p>\n
Finau said the proposed law changes would \u201cstrengthen oversight of home educating families to meet specific requirements to maintain their exemption from enrolment at a registered school\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the current system, when an exemption is granted for a student, it remains in place until that student turns 16. Home educating parents should be teaching students as regularly and as well as in a registered school. This might be achievable for a 6-year-old when an exemption is granted, for example, but becomes more challenging as students\u2019 learning becomes more specialised and in-depth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ministry has limited visibility to provide assurance that children are being taught as regularly and as well as in a registered school. ERO [Education Review Office] reviews only take place if a concern has been raised. There is a risk that a learner can receive a poor-quality education without an issue being raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny additional reporting requirements will enable the ministry to have more regular contact with families, providing more opportunities to consider whether children in home education are being taught as regularly and as well as in a registered school, and to take action if not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Home education body speaks out<\/p>\n
National Council of Home Educators NZ government liaison Cynthia Hancox said the late changes are \u201cunderhanded and undemocratic\u201d, while being \u201cfar too broad and open\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been introduced with no warning, no consultation with the home education sector despite attempts to meet with the minister and the ministry,\u201d Hancox told the Herald. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no information on what the proposed regulations would look like, whether they\u2019ll be reasonable, unreasonable or whatever. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe amendment opens the door to any future Government imposing any additional conditions or regulations that it wants to, bypassing a parliamentary process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hancox said she is also concerned about the \u201cinequity\u201d of the proposed law changes. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the way the amendment is worded, if a family does not comply with whatever regulations might be introduced, the Secretary [of Education] has the power to revoke their homeschooling exemption. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat would never happen to a school or a teacher if they didn\u2019t write a report or their students failed an assessment or something. There might be an improvement plan in place, there might be support, there might be future reviews, that kind of thing. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the wording of the law with homeschoolers is you can either fail a homeschooling review, or you can not comply with whatever regulations \u2013 [and] we don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to be \u2013 and have the right to teach your children summarily removed with no right of appeal. That is incredibly inequitable and incredibly stressful for families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finau said \u201cconcerns shared by the sector will be considered before any regulations are finalised\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recognise that home-educating families often take different approaches from those used in schools, and this will be reflected in the design of any reporting or assessment requirements.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsideration will also be given to the individual needs of students, including those with disabilities or who are neurodivergent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ministry of Education will consult the home education sector on the development of the regulations. This will be prior to the proposed commencement date of July 1, 2027, for the home education changes set out in the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hancox believes the fact Phillips homeschooled his children is a \u201cred herring\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, Tom Phillips was a home educator and he had exemptions for his children, but that has nothing whatsoever to do with what happened subsequently. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing has nothing to do with the other. So it is really a manipulation, if you like, of the situation around Tom Phillips to make it around homeschooling and to then suggest that says anything whatsoever about other homeschooling families.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In New Zealand, \u201ccertificates of exemption\u201d from school are available through an online application on the ministry website,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[74,5750,15385,1558,16574,1121,12974,4500,18432,84,2109,7237,305,218465,11542,8307,7494,1362,28874,111,43,139,69,10936,12860,9643,131,5134,686],"class_list":["post-438956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-after","tag-application","tag-approved","tag-been","tag-bill","tag-case","tag-change","tag-changes","tag-did","tag-education","tag-family","tag-governments","tag-have","tag-homeschool","tag-lastminute","tag-law","tag-less","tag-made","tag-ministry","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phillips","tag-revealed","tag-spark","tag-than","tag-tom","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}