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Phillip Fry
[FYI request #34283 email]
20 May 2026
Tēnā koe Phillip
OIA: GEMS-47473 Primary School Progress Descriptors
Thank you for your email of 29 March 2026 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry)
requesting the following information:
Under the Official Information Act 1982, I request copies of all briefings,
reports, or formal advice provided to the Minister of Education or senior
Ministry officials since January 2024 regarding the development and
implementation of the five-point Progress Descriptors for primary school
reporting.
Specifically, I am seeking documents describing:
•
the rationale for the move to this specific five-point scale;
•
alternative reporting frameworks or "common components" that were
considered but not adopted;
•
the reasons for selecting the current descriptors over previous models;
and
•
any identified impacts, risks, or benefits for teachers, schools, and
families.
This request is limited to formal documents relied upon for decision-making
and does not seek informal correspondence or raw draft material. I would
prefer to receive these documents in a searchable electronic format.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
We have identified eight documents in scope of your request for advice provided to
the Minister of Education. I am refusing this part of your request under section 18(d)
of the Act, as the information requested is, or will soon be, publicly available.
Please refer to the
Document Table below for a list of these documents, along with
links to where each paper has, or will soon be, published.
Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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Please note some information has been withheld from the publicly available
documents under the following sections of the Act
• 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons
• 9(2)(f)(iv), to maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which
protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown and
officials
• 9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the effective conduct of public affairs through the free
and frank expression of opinions by or between or to Ministers of the Crown or
members of an organisation or officers and employees of any public service
agency or organisation in the course of their duty.
As required under section 9(1) of the Act, I have considered the public interest in
releasing the information withheld. I do not consider that the public interest
considerations favouring the release of this information are sufficient to outweigh the
need to withhold it at this time.
We have interpreted the part of your request that relates to advice to “senior Ministry
officials” to be for advice provided to the Ministry’s senior leadership team. The
make-up of our senior leadership team can be found on our website at:
www.education.govt.nz/our-work/our-role-and-our-people/our-leadership-team
No formal advice on this topic was provided to the senior leadership team, so I am
refusing this part of your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the document
alleged to contain the information requested does not exist or, despite reasonable
efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
Thank you also for your email of 29 April asking about the nature of the consultations
required to respond to this request. The Ministry consulted with the Minister of
Education’s Office, as per the protocol when a Minister of the Crown has a legitimate
interest in information requested under the Act.
Thank you again for your email. 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
Giles Panting
General Manager, Curriculum Integration Services
Te Poutāhū | Curriculum Centre
education.govt.nz
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Document Table
#
Date
Reference Title
Decision on release
1
13
1327456
Approach to twice yearly
Refused. Information
May
standardised testing and
refused under section 18(d)
2024
common reporting
of the Act. A copy of the
report can be found here:
https://web-
assets.education.govt.nz/
s3fs-public/2024-
10/1327456-Approach-to-
twice-yearly-standardised-
testing-and-common-
reporting_Redacted.pdf?V
ersionId=ENsidWufqbACN
rThCvk.pRI2feDaycRg,
with some information
withheld under sections
9(2)(a), 9(2)(f)(iv) and
9(2)(g)(i) of the Act.
2
24
CAB-24-
Cabinet paper:
Refused. Information
June
MIN-0216
Implementing Regular and
refused under section 18(d)
2024
Consistent Assessment and of the Act. A copy of the
Reporting of Student
report can be found here:
Progress and Achievement
https://web-
assets.education.govt.nz/
s3fs-public/2025-01/CAB-
24-MIN-
0216_Redacted.pdf?Versi
onId=RH7RGYW6eBFZB5
E_ospJ5gXp8Ny6khcE, wit
h some information withheld
under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of
the Act.
education.govt.nz
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#
Date
Reference Title
Decision on release
3
27 Nov 1338902
Report: Assessment,
Refused. Information
2024
aromatawai and reporting
refused under section 18(d)
of the Act. A copy of the
report can be found here:
https://web-
assets.education.govt.nz/
s3fs-public/2025-
11/1338902%20Assessme
nt%20Aromatawai%20and
%20reporting_Redacted.p
df?VersionId=_QARaVjr_g
76bXGD6LB.ivxMDby_Ma
QL with some information
withheld under sections
9(2)(a) and 9(2)(g)(i) of the
Act.
4
15 Apr 1345871
Report: Approach to
Refused. Information
2025
legislating for curriculum,
refused in full under section
assessment, and reporting
18(d) of the Act. A copy of
to parents
the report can be found
here:
https://web-
assets.education.govt.nz/
s3fs-public/2026-
01/7.%20ER%201345871%
20%28Signed%29%20App
roach%20to%20legislating
%20for%20curriculum_Re
dacted.pdf?VersionId=Cd
cJ4R899sCfVjPQzHp7sGf
NgJDnUCib with some information
withheld under sections
9(2)(a) and 9(2)(f)(iv) of the
Act.
education.govt.nz
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#
Date
Reference Title
Decision on release
5
17 Apr 1346292
Report: Reporting to
Refused. Information
2025
Parents progress
refused under section 18(d)
descriptors.
of the Act. A copy of the
report will be published on
the Ministry’s website
shortly at
https://www.education.go
vt.nz/our-
work/information-
releases/advice-seen-our-
ministers with some
information withheld under
sections 9(2)(a)
6
14
1345582
Report: Direction for drafting
Refused. Information
May
of assessment and
refused in full under section
2025
aromatawai requirements
18(d) of the Act. A copy of
the report can be found
here: https://web-
assets.education.govt.nz/
s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201345582%20-
%20Direction%20for%20dr
afting%20of%20assessme
nt%20and%20aromatawai
%20requirements_Redact
ed.pdf?VersionId=QUmV_
xaQgf8TQO85wAsSNiSBY
mmnN1hD with some
information withheld under
sections 9(2)(a), 9(2)(f)(iv)
and 9(2)(g)(i) of the Act.
7
27 Aug 1351280
Report: Draft foundation
Refused. Information
2025
curriculum policy statements refused under section 18(d)
for assessment and
of the Act. A copy of the
aromatawai requirements
report will be published on
the Ministry’s website
shortly at
https://www.education.go
vt.nz/our-
work/information-
releases/advice-seen-our-
ministers
education.govt.nz
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#
Date
Reference Title
Decision on release
8
10 Oct 1354023
Report: Release of finalised
Refused. Information
2025
Years 0-10 English, Te Reo refused under section 18(d)
Rangatira, Mathematics and of the Act. A copy of the
Statistics, and Pāngarau
report will be published on
the Ministry’s website
shortly at
https://www.education.go
vt.nz/our-
work/information-
releases/advice-seen-our-
ministers
education.govt.nz
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