The Government has proposed tougher homeschooling oversight through late amendments to the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill shortly after it emerged Tom Phillips had been approved by the Ministry of Education to homeschool his children before their disappearance.
The changes, brought in via a late Amendment Paper after the Select Committee stage, would introduce ongoing conditions and reporting requirements for homeschooling families to retain exemptions, with the ministry arguing the current system gives limited visibility into whether children are receiving an adequate education once approval is granted. While officials have not confirmed the amendments were prompted by the Phillips case, critics say the timing raises questions.
Home education advocates have condemned the move as undemocratic and lacking consultation, warning the proposed powers could allow exemptions to be revoked without appeal and expose families to broad future regulations – factors that don’t apply to schools in the state education system.
The proposed law changes would introduce stricter oversight of homeschooling families by allowing the Ministry of Education to require ongoing reporting and compliance checks after exemptions are granted. The amendments would also give the Secretary for Education the power to revoke homeschooling exemptions if families fail to meet future regulatory requirements, which critics say are not yet clearly defined.
Speaking to legacy media, Cynthia Hancox of the National Council of Home Educators NZ (NCHENZ) said, “This has been introduced with no warning, no consultation with the home education sector despite attempts to meet with the minister and the ministry.
“We have no information on what the proposed regulations would look like, whether they’ll be reasonable, unreasonable or whatever.
“The amendment opens the door to any future Government imposing any additional conditions or regulations that it wants to, bypassing a parliamentary process.
“Because of the way the amendment is worded, if a family does not comply with whatever regulations might be introduced, the Secretary has the power to revoke their homeschooling exemption.
“That would never happen to a school or a teacher if they didn’t 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.
“But the wording of the law with homeschoolers is you can either fail a homeschooling review, or you can not comply with whatever regulations – we don’t know what they’re going to be – and have the right to teach your children summarily removed with no right of appeal. That is incredibly inequitable and incredibly stressful for families.”
A statement on the NCHENZ website said, “We are not opposed to regulation to make sure our kids are safe, we are opposed to home schoolers intentionally being left out of the discussion.
“As of now we do not know what these regulations will require or how far-reaching they could be. For this reason NCHENZ believes it is important to oppose this Bill in its entirety now while we have the opportunity to do so. We are not opposed to regulatory requirements, but they need to be flexible, relevant, and made with consultation.
