Thank you for your email to the Ministry of Education.  
This is an auto generated response confirming your email has been received.
Please do not respond to this message.  
  
We will respond to your email as soon as possible.
Tēnā koe mō tō īmēra mai ki te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga.     
  
He urupare aunoa tēnei hei whakaatu kua tae mai tō īmēra
ki a mātou. Kaua noa e whakautu i tēnei karere.  
  
Mea ake nei ka urupare tonu atu mātou ki tō īmēra. 

  

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[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]

Kia ora Emma,

 

Thank you for the information request below.  The Ministry will consider
and respond to your request in accordance with the Official Information
Act 1982 (the Act).

 

Under section 15(1) of the Act, we are required to make and inform you of
our decision on your request as soon as reasonably practicable and in any
case not later than 20 working days after the day on which your request is
received.  You can therefore expect to receive our decision on your
request on or before 20 February 2026.  If more than 20 working days are
needed due to the potential workload and/or consultations involved in
answering your request, we will notify you accordingly.

 

Please note, the days between 25 December – 15 January (inclusive) are not
considered to be “working days” for the purposes of calculating the 20
working day timeframe for providing a response under the Act.

 

In the interim, if you have any questions about your request, please email
[1][email address].

 

 

Ngâ mihi,

Enquiries National Team | Te Tâhuhu o te Mâtauranga | Ministry of
Education | JH
[2]education.govt.nz
We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
He mea târai e mâtou te mâtauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ôna huanga

[3]Te TD huhu o te MD tauranga

 

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[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]

Tēnā koe Emma

 

Thank you for your email of 22 January 2025 requesting the following
information from the Ministry of Education (the Ministry):

 

1. Cost of External Expertise (The "Generalist Tax") Please provide the
total financial cost incurred by the Ministry for external consultants,
contractors, and "Expert Advisory Groups" specifically engaged to provide
advice on the following work programmes for the financial years 2023/24
and 2024/25 (year-to-date):

 

·         The "Curriculum Refresh" (Te Mataiaho).

·         The implementation of 'Structured Literacy" and the Year 0-2
teaching sequences.

·         The implementation of the new NCEA co-requisites.

 

Please break these costs down by vendor/group name and total spend.

 

2. Evidence-Based Decision Making

Please provide the titles and dates of all Briefings to the Minister
(BIMs), Aide Memoires, or Weekly Reports provided to the Minister of
Education between 1 January 2024 and present, that contain the following
keywords in their subject line or executive summary:

 

"Pedagogical evidence"

"Research base"

"Science of learning"

"Best practice"

 

Note: I am requesting the titles and dates only at this stage to identify
relevant documents for future requests.

 

3. Internal Education Up-Skilling

Please provide a list of all "Workshops", "Deep Dives", or "Strategy
Sessions" held with the Minister of Education since their appointment that
were specifically designed to explain pedagogical mechanics of the Common
Practice Model or the updated Curriculum statements. Please include the
duration of these sessions and whether external experts were paid to
attend/present.

 

Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act).

 

Part two of your request, as currently worded, is very broad in nature and
scope. Locating and collating the titles of all advice provided to the
Minister of Education over a two-year period containing the specified
words or phrases would be a significant administrative task to undertake.
 In the hope that we may be able to avoid refusing your request and so
that we are able to reasonably identify the information you are seeking,
we would like to invite you to refine/clarify the scope. For example, are
you able to identify the particular topic/subject matter of the advice you
are interested in?

 

The links below may assist you in clarifying and/or refining your request:

o [1]https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/i...
 includes information about the reports and advice our Ministers have
considered, including published advice.
o [2]Written Questions - New Zealand Parliament where you can search
questions to Ministers for written answer and the replies given to
each question.  These can be filtered by portfolio, Minister answering
and key words (e.g. “advice” and/or “curriculum”).

 

We look forward to hearing from you. Once we have your
refinement/clarification, we will commence work on your request.

 

Please note that, in line with section 15 (1AA) of the Act, if refinement
or clarification of a request is sought within seven working days of the
date on which the request was received, the Ministry may treat the amended
or clarified request as a new request that replaces the original request
for the purposes of calculating the timeframe.

 

Nāku noa, nā

 

 

Official and Parliamentary Information | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |
Ministry of Education | KJ

1 The Terrace, Wellington

[3]education.govt.nz

 

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga

We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[4][IMG]

 

 

 

 

 

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[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]

Tēnā koe Emma

 

We note we have not received a response to our email below inviting you to
clarify your Official Information Act (OIA) request of 22 January 2026. 

 

If you wish to proceed with your OIA request, could you please let us have
your response by COB Wednesday 18 February?

 

If we do not hear from you by this date, and in order to meet our
obligations under the OIA, we will close your request.

 

Nāku noa, nā

 

 

Official and Parliamentary Information | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |
Ministry of Education | KJ

1 The Terrace, Wellington

[1]education.govt.nz

 

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga

We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[2][IMG]

 

From: Enquiries National <[3][email address]>
Sent: Thursday, 29 January 2026 3:10 pm
To: '[FOI #33582 email]'
<[4][FOI #33582 email]>
Subject: GEMS-46590: Clarification of your OIA request

 

[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]

 

Tēnā koe Emma

 

Thank you for your email of 22 January 2026 requesting the following
information from the Ministry of Education (the Ministry):

 

1. Cost of External Expertise (The "Generalist Tax") Please provide the
total financial cost incurred by the Ministry for external consultants,
contractors, and "Expert Advisory Groups" specifically engaged to provide
advice on the following work programmes for the financial years 2023/24
and 2024/25 (year-to-date):

 

·       The "Curriculum Refresh" (Te Mataiaho).

·       The implementation of 'Structured Literacy" and the Year 0-2
teaching sequences.

·       The implementation of the new NCEA co-requisites.

 

Please break these costs down by vendor/group name and total spend.

 

2. Evidence-Based Decision Making

Please provide the titles and dates of all Briefings to the Minister
(BIMs), Aide Memoires, or Weekly Reports provided to the Minister of
Education between 1 January 2024 and present, that contain the following
keywords in their subject line or executive summary:

 

"Pedagogical evidence"

"Research base"

"Science of learning"

"Best practice"

 

Note: I am requesting the titles and dates only at this stage to identify
relevant documents for future requests.

 

3. Internal Education Up-Skilling

Please provide a list of all "Workshops", "Deep Dives", or "Strategy
Sessions" held with the Minister of Education since their appointment that
were specifically designed to explain pedagogical mechanics of the Common
Practice Model or the updated Curriculum statements. Please include the
duration of these sessions and whether external experts were paid to
attend/present.

 

Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982
(the Act).

 

Part two of your request, as currently worded, is very broad in nature and
scope. Locating and collating the titles of all advice provided to the
Minister of Education over a two-year period containing the specified
words or phrases would be a significant administrative task to undertake.
 In the hope that we may be able to avoid refusing your request and so
that we are able to reasonably identify the information you are seeking,
we would like to invite you to refine/clarify the scope. For example, are
you able to identify the particular topic/subject matter of the advice you
are interested in?

 

The links below may assist you in clarifying and/or refining your request:

o [5]https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/i...
 includes information about the reports and advice our Ministers have
considered, including published advice.
o [6]Written Questions - New Zealand Parliament where you can search
questions to Ministers for written answer and the replies given to
each question.  These can be filtered by portfolio, Minister answering
and key words (e.g. “advice” and/or “curriculum”).

 

We look forward to hearing from you. Once we have your
refinement/clarification, we will commence work on your request.

 

Please note that, in line with section 15 (1AA) of the Act, if refinement
or clarification of a request is sought within seven working days of the
date on which the request was received, the Ministry may treat the amended
or clarified request as a new request that replaces the original request
for the purposes of calculating the timeframe.

 

Nāku noa, nā

 

 

Official and Parliamentary Information | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga |
Ministry of Education | KJ

1 The Terrace, Wellington

[7]education.govt.nz

 

He mea tārai e mātou te mātauranga kia rangatira ai, kia mana taurite ai
ōna huanga

We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent
outcomes
[8][IMG]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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