9/10/2025
H Patel
[FYI request #32297 email]
Tēnā koe H Patel
OIA: 1353163 – Changes to food, nutrition, and home economics subjects in New Zealand
secondary schools from 2028
Thank you for your email of 12 September 2025 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry)
requesting the following information:
I request under the Official Information Act all documents and records relating to the
apparent reorganisation or removal of curriculum subjects that address food, nutrition, and
wellbeing - specifically changes affecting Food and Nutrition (Health Studies, Year 11),
Home Economics (Year 12/13), and Food Technology (Technology learning area).
This request seeks to clarify whether and how nutrition, wellbeing, and practical food
preparation learning wil continue to be provided under the new senior secondary subject
structure (as posted at https://tahurangi.education.govt.nz/senior-secondary-subjects) and
the decision-making behind these changes.
Accordingly, I request the following information:
1. Decision-making records - any Cabinet papers, Ministerial decisions,
memoranda, or approvals that considered, recommended, or confirmed changes to
Food and Nutrition, Home Economics, and Food Technology, including whether
they would be removed, merged, or replaced.
2. Policy and analysis - Ministry briefing papers, impact analyses, options, and any
other advice, including but not limited to those addressing:
- how food/nutrition content wil be delivered under the new structure;
- rationale for not listing a subject explicitly focused on food and/or nutrition under
Health & PE;
- anticipated impacts on student health, wellbeing, and learning outcomes;
Wellington National Office, 1 The Terrace, Levels 5 to 14, Wellington 6011
PO Box 1666, Wel ington 6140, DX SR51201 Phone: +64 4 463 8000
- whether practical food preparation learning wil continue in any subject, other
than Hospitality;
- anticipated workforce impacts - including redeployment, job losses, or attrition of
specialist teachers due to 'their subject' no longer being offered.
3. Consultation - materials, submissions, feedback, engagement notes, summary
reports, surveys/data collected from schools, teachers, and subject associations,
health/nutrition experts, parents, students, iwi, or other community stakeholders, or
records of any meetings where these changes were discussed; including details of
the type of stakeholder where available.
4. Comparative materials - any working documents mapping the current subject
content (Food and Nutrition, Home Economics, Food Technology) to the
proposed/replacement subjects, showing how content wil be retained, merged, or
omitted.
If portions of this request are likely to be refused for reasons of substantial collation, I am
happy to discuss narrowing the scope or receiving information in stages.
I understand that some parts of my request may relate to detailed materials that are stil
under development (for example, detailed subject content and course design). For clarity, I
am requesting information that has informed the confirmed list of 'Years 11-13 subjects for
the National Curriculum', as published on 11 September 2025 - including decision-making,
analysis, consultation, and planning carried out to date. If any part of my request cannot be
answered for this reason, please confirm this explicitly in your response.
Your request has been considered under the Of icial Information Act 1982 (the Act).
We have interpreted
parts one and two of your request to be for formal advice provided in the
forms of briefing notes, reports, and cabinet material. The Ministry recognises the high public
interest in the changes to curriculum subjects and intends to publish a range of advice on our
website in the coming weeks. I am therefore refusing parts one and two of your request under
section 18(d) of the Act, as the requested information wil soon be publicly available.
Please note, we anticipate some information may be withheld in the published information under
section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act, where the withholding may be necessary to maintain the constitutional
convention protecting the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and officials.
The Ministry needs to extend the timeframe for responding to parts three and four of your request,
pursuant to section 15A(1)(b) of the Act, as consultations necessary to make a decision on the
request are such that a proper response cannot reasonably be made within the original time limit.
You can now expect to receive a response to your request on or before 10 November 2025, which
is an extension of 20 working days.
OIA: 1353163
You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to investigate our decision to extend the timeframe for
responding to this request, in accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152, Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Cindy McDonald
Principal Advisor, Official and Parliamentary Information
Government, Executive and Ministerial Services
OIA: 1353163
