Ministry of Education investigates leaks

An external investigation has been launched into the Ministry of Education following several media leaks over the past few months.  

These included the leaked documents which proposed the disbanding of Kāhui Ako and early drafts of the revised English curriculum. 

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Michael Heron KC will lead the investigation. Media outlet RNZ, who has broken several of the leaked documents, was approached to help with the investigation, which they declined.  

Secretary for Education Rob Campbell wrote in an email to Ministry staff that he was “deeply concerned by the recent unauthorised disclosures of confidential documents to a journalist.  

“These anonymous leaks not only harm our organisation but also unfairly create mistrust within our teams and distract from our professionalism and hard work.” 

Labour education spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime had previously said, on the Kāhui Ako leaks, that sharing confidential information was usually indicative of discontent.  

“When information like this is shared, which is Budget-sensitive, I think it does show that there is concern and disillusionment around what the minister is doing, and the lack of process in terms of what the minister is doing.” 

“The key issue here is that it is really unclear what the government is doing, why they are doing it and what their process is, and what I am hearing from teachers is that they are confused.”