Education for all

In New Zealand we are proud to have an education system that reflects our unique society.

It recognises different abilities, religious beliefs, ethnic groups, income levels, ideas about teaching and learning and allows schools to develop their own special characters.

Kura kaupapa and wharekura

Most schools teach in English, but some teach in the Mäori language. Kura kaupapa Mäori and wharekura are schools in which the principal language of instruction is Mäori and education is based on Mäori culture and values. Most kura kaupapa cater for students from Years 1 to 8, and a small number of wharekura (secondary schools) cater for students up to Year 13.

Special education

There is additional support for students with special education needs. This includes children with disabilities, vision and hearing impairments, those who have difficulty learning, communicating or getting along with others, and those who have an emotional or behaviour difficulty.

Most students with these needs attend their local school. Additional funding is available, as well as teacher aide time and specialist support. There are also a number of special schools, including two for deaf and hearing impaired students and one for blind and vision impaired students.

Community

New Zealand’s Adult and Community Education (ACE) supports the continuing education needs of adults. This may be to learn new things for work, for interest, or to complete their school education.

There are also providers of many adult classes in hobby and recreational learning, eg furniture-making, calligraphy, photography and pottery.

Home and distance learning

New Zealand’s Correspondence School has around 16,000 enrolments including full-time students who, for a variety of reasons, cannot attend a school. It is the national distance learning provider that uses multimedia and online learning for early childhood, primary, secondary and special needs students.

A small number of parents seek Ministry of Education approval to educate their children at home, many of whom enrol with the Correspondence School.

At tertiary and adult levels, full and part-time learning programmes are available for self-directed learning at home and in the workplace.

Student Pathways

There are a number of education pathways students can take from early childhood, primary school, secondary school through to tertiary education.

On page 10 of the PDF in the ‘Related downloads’ section at the bottom of the Table of contents, there is a graph that shows the pathways available.