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Emma Williams
[FYI request #33582 email]
16 March 2026
Tēnā koe Emma
OIA: GEMS-46590 – Cost of External Pedagogical Expertise & Ministerial
Briefings on Curriculum Evidence
Thank you for your email of 22 January 2026 to the Ministry of Education (the
Ministry), with part two clarified on 17 February 2026, requesting the following
information:
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) Please provide a list of titles and dates of all aide-memoires, briefing notes,
and education reports provided to the Minister of Education between 1
November 2023 and 30 May 2025 that relate to the following three specific
topics:
a) Mathematics Curriculum Acceleration ("Make It Count"):
•
Any advice discussing the feasibility, risks, or implementation timeline for
bringing the Mathematics and Statistics Years 0–8 curriculum rollout
forward to Term 1, 2025.
•
Any advice relating to the procurement or selection of the "Ministry-funded
maths resources" (e.g., Numicon, PR1ME) for the 2025 school year.
b) Structured Literacy Mandate:
•
Any advice provided to the Minister regarding the decision to mandate
"structured literacy" approaches for all state schools from Term 1, 2025.
Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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•
Any analysis of the "readiness" of the workforce to implement this
mandate.
c) Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG):
•
Any advice regarding the establishment and Terms of Reference for the
Ministerial Advisory Group focusing on English and Mathematics.
•
Any advice or briefing notes detailing the selection criteria or appointment
process for the members of this MAG (specifically Dr Michael Johnston, Dr
Audrey Tan, and Barbara Ala’alatoa).
Please note I am currently asking only for the list of document titles and dates
to identify relevant documents. I may request full copies of specific documents
from this list at a later stage.
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)
and renumbered for administrative ease.
The Ministry needs to extend the timeframe for responding to your request, pursuant
to section 15A(1)(a) of the Act, as the request is for a large quantity of information or
necessitates a search through a large quantity of information, and meeting the
original time limit would unreasonably interfere
with the operations of the Ministry.
You can now expect to receive a response to your request on or before 16 April
2026, which is an extension of 20 working days.
You have the right to ask an Ombudsman to review my decision on your request, in
accordance with section 28 of the Act. You can do this by writing to
[email address] or to Office of the Ombudsman, PO Box 10152,
Wellington 6143.
Nāku noa, nā
Tess Firth
Senior Advisor Ministerial Services
Te Pou Rangatōpū | Corporate
education.govt.nz
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OIA: GEMS-46590
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