An Aotearoa where everyone can reach their full potential.
The Green Party will support an inclusive education system that uplifts everyone.
Education is a public good and a lifelong right, not a commodity. The Green Party believes education must foster curiosity, creativity and confidence. Education should support every person to discover who they are and how they can contribute to a just, sustainable world.
Education plays a vital role in building social cohesion and democratic life, and should be planned and funded to deliver this. Schools, kura and early learning centres should be places of belonging where diverse cultures, identities and experiences are valued.
Unfortunately, today’s education system treats education as a competitive market and learning as a means to a narrowly defined end. When decisions are driven by standardisation, ranking and market forces, it erodes trust, sidelines creativity and reinforces exclusion.
The Green Party champions an education approach grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi and universal human rights, where inclusion is foundational. This system honours tino rangatiratanga, embraces te reo Māori and mātauranga Māori, and ensures Māori voices and communities are central to decision-making. Disabled people, rainbow communities, migrants and refugees, and others facing structural barriers are fully supported to learn, belong and thrive. Educators’ voices and expertise are central to decisions at all levels.
In the well-resourced system we will build, education supports lifelong learning, strengthens wellbeing, and is a force for transformation of individuals, communities and society as a whole.
Our plan
- Make early childhood education free and provide it as a public good like schooling, removing the market and stopping corporate interests from running for-profit centres.
- Reset the Government’s rushed and ideological curriculum and assessment reforms, reverting to the original direction of Te Mātaiaho and ensuring qualification reform follows curriculum reform.
- Expand the criteria for access to learning support. Establish a single agency to coordinate and resource specialist supports for learners with health and disability support needs. Implement all actions in the ‘Framework for Action: A quality education for all’.
- Expand Ka Ora, Ka Ako as a first step towards providing a warm and nutritious locally made lunch to all schoolchildren.
- Support rangatiratanga to provide an education system driven by whānau needs, allowing space for whakapapa-based decisions, and working towards a Māori Education Authority governing and funding all Māori medium and Kaupapa Māori education.
- Support the workforce so all teachers and educators have fair wages and staffing levels that support quality teaching. Co-develop a long-term workforce plan with the sector.