GEMS 48013 Response.pdf

CMC
[FYI request #34630 email]
3 July 2026
Tēnā koe CMC
OIA: GEMS-48013 – Correspondence relating to SMART data use
Thank you for your email of 7 May 2026 to the Ministry of Education (the Ministry)
requesting the following information:
“I am writing to make a request under the Official Information Act 1982 for internal
communications relating to the Student Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting
Tool (SMART). This request is limited to communications created between 1
September 2025 and the date of this request. Information Requested I request the
following categories of information:
1.  Ministerial communications All emails, briefing notes, meeting notes and
written communications between Ministry staff and the Minister of
Education or the Minister's office that discuss any of the following in
relation to SMART:
a.  The use of SMART data for any purpose
b.  The extension of SMART to Years 9 and 10 School performance
reporting using SMART data
2.  Internal Ministry communications All emails and written communications
between Ministry staff at senior leadership level — including Deputy
Secretaries, General Managers and their direct reports — that discuss
any of the fol owing in relation to SMART:
a.  The use of SMART data
b.   Requests from other government agencies for access to SMART
data
c.  Any proposal to share SMART data with any other government
agency or third party
d.   The extension of SMART to Years 9 and 10
3.  Communications with Janison All emails and written communications
between Ministry staff and Janison Solutions Pty Ltd that discuss any of
the following:
a.  The use of New Zealand student data by Janison for any purpose
AI marking and the data used to support it

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b.  The extension of SMART to Years 9 and 10
4.  Ministerial briefings All briefing papers and ministerial briefings prepared
between 1 September 2025 and the date of this request that discuss
SMART,
a.  its data or
b. its expansion”.
Your request has been considered under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
1.  Ministerial communications All emails, briefing notes, meeting notes and written
communications between Ministry staff and the Minister of Education or the
Minister's office that discuss any of the following in relation to SMART:
a.  The use of SMART data for any purpose
We have interpreted part 1a of your request to mean all official ministerial
communications, including all emails, official briefing notes, meeting notes and written
communications between the Ministry and the Minister of Education (the Minister) or the
Minister's office that discuss the use of Student Monitoring, Assessment and Reporting
Tool (SMART) data (between 1 September 2025 and 7 May 2026).
Three documents have been identified in scope of part 1a of your request, as set out in
the Document Table below. I am releasing one of these in part as Appendix A, with
some information withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the Act, to protect the privacy of natural
persons, and section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act, to maintain the constitutional conventions for the
time being which protect the confidentiality of advice tendered by Ministers of the Crown
and officials. Some out of scope material has also been removed.
I am refusing one document under section 18(d) of the Act, as it is publicly available at
the link provided in the Document Table below. Note that some information has been
withheld from the published document under the following sections of the Act:
• 9(2)(a),
as
above
•  9(2)(ba)(i) to protect information which is subject to an obligation of confidence
or which any person has been or could be compel ed to provide under the
authority of any enactment, and it is in the public interest that such information
should continue to be supplied
•  9(2)(f)(iv), as above
•  9(2)(g)(i), to maintain the constitutional conventions for the time being which
protect 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.
I am withholding the third document in full under section 9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act, as above.
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.

Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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In accordance with section 16(1)(e) of the Act, I am also releasing as Appendix B the
relevant excerpts from communications between Ministry staff and the Minister, or the
Minister’s Office, that discuss the use of SMART data. Some information has been
removed as out of scope from the excerpts taken from the Cabinet Paper- Progress on
curriculum, assessment and aromatawai changes.
b.  The extension of SMART to Years 9 and 10 School performance reporting
using SMART data
There was no extension made to expand to Years 9 and 10 using SMART, so I am
refusing part 1b of your request under section 18(e) of the Act, as the information does
not exist.
The Ministry developed a Single Stage Business Case to procure a long-term solution to
enable the creation of trusted data about student progress and achievement for years
1-10. On 17 February 2025, Cabinet approved the Business Case, SMART is the product
that is currently being delivered as a result.
Please refer to page 15 – Single Stage Business Case – the Standardised tool for
assessment and aromatawai, and page 31, which details the proposal here: https://web-
assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-03/Cabinet%20Pack%20-
%20Establishing%20a%20new%20standardised%20tool_Redacted_0.pdf?VersionI
d=h4gLPqajurvR8Cjn1c0RZxcJN3VJHYg6.
2.  Internal Ministry communications All emails and written communications
between Ministry staff at senior leadership level — including Deputy Secretaries,
General Managers and their direct reports — that discuss any of the following in
relation to SMART:
a.  The use of SMART data
Ministry staff at senior leader level have regularly communicated with direct reports in the
course of their duties regarding SMART. An initial email search for the period between
1 September 2025 and 7 May 2026 produced thousands of results. I am therefore
refusing part 2a of your request under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research.
We have considered whether inviting you to clarify or fixing a charge for this part of the
request would enable this to be granted as required by sections 18A and 18B of the Act.
However, after careful consideration, we have concluded that it is difficult to conceive of a
way to search our record-keeping systems that would make this task feasible and
responding to the request would impact on our staff’s ability to carry out other operations.
b.  Requests from other government agencies for access to SMART data
c.  Any proposal to share SMART data with any other government agency or
third party
No requests or proposals have been made to share SMART data with other government
agencies or third parties. Therefore, parts 2b and 2c of your request are refused under
section 18(e) of the Act, as above.

Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]

[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]
We note that the Ministry is the kaitiaki (guardian/steward) of the SMART system and the
data within it.
For further information, please see the SMART FAQs and Privacy Statements for
students, parents and whānau here:
https://newzealandcurriculum.tahurangi.education.govt.nz/smart-overview-and-
access/5637300577.p?activeTab=tab:3
d.  The extension of SMART to Years 9 and 10
In response to part 2d of your request, please refer to the response to part 1b above.
3.  Communications with Janison All emails and written communications between
Ministry staff and Janison Solutions Pty Ltd that discuss any of the following:
a.  The use of New Zealand student data by Janison for any purpose AI
marking and the data used to support it
In response to part 3a of your request, attempting to locate and collate all emails and
written communication between Ministry staff and Janison Solutions Pty Ltd in relation to
the use of SMART data over this timeframe would be a significant administrative exercise
to undertake and would detract from the team’s ability to carry out its core functions. The
information requested in this part of your request is not held in a way that allows for easy
retrieval by subject and identifying, assessing and collating all relevant material would
require a substantial manual search across a very large volume of records identified. I am
therefore refusing this part of your request under section 18(f) of the Ac, as above.
We have also considered whether inviting you to clarify or fixing a charge for this part of
the request would enable this to be granted as required by sections 18A and 18B of the
Act. However, as noted above, there is no clear path to searching our record-keeping
systems for this information and responding to the request would impact on our staff’s
ability to carry out other operations.
b.  The extension of SMART to Years 9 and 10
In response to part 3b of your request, please refer to our response to part 1b above.
4.  Ministerial briefings All briefing papers and ministerial briefings prepared
between 1 September 2025 and the date of this request that discuss SMART,
a. its data
We have interpreted part 4a of your request as meaning all official briefing papers
provided to the Minister’s office that discuss the use of SMART data (between
1 September 2025 and 7 May 2026). All relevant information has been provided in
response to part 1a above.
b. its expansion
In response to part 4b of your request, please refer to part 1b above.
Please note, we may publish this response on our website after five working days. Your
name and contact details will be removed.

Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
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[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]
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.
Thank you again for your email. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact
our media team in the first instance at [email address].
Nāku noa, nā

Antony Harvey
Acting General Manager, Business Operations
Te Poutāhū | Curriculum Centre

Wellington – National Office, PO Box 1666, Wellington 6140
Phone: +64 4 463 8000
education.govt.nz
[IN-CONFIDENCE - RELEASE EXTERNAL]

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Document Table
#
Date
Referen
Title
Decision on release
ce
1
27 August
1351280
Report: Draft
Released in part. Some
2025
foundation
information withheld
(Partially
curriculum policy
under sections 9(2)(a),
released as
statements for
9(2)(f)(iv) and out of
it’s so close to
assessment and
scope material.
1 September
aromatawai
2026)
requirements
2
28 November 1354601 Report:
Refused under section
2025
Assessment and
18(d) of the Act, publicly
Reporting Tool
available here:
(SMART)
https://web-
Assessments
assets.education.govt.
nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201354601%20-
%20Assessment%20an
d%20Reporting%20Too
l%20%28SMART%29%2
0Assessments_Redact
ed.pdf?VersionId=zSrg
4fzU1fzpet7Z9jPh8MxS
CpzzwdpI
3
16 March
1354948 Report:
Progress
Withheld in full.
2026
and Achievement
Information withheld in
data
full under section
9(2)(f)(iv) of the Act.
4
28 May 2026
Excerpts
Released excerpts in

specifically
accordance with

discussing the
section 16(1)(e) of the

use of SMART
Act

data

12 November
Excerpts from,
2025
Cabinet Paper:
Progress on
curriculum,
assessment and
aromatawai
changes

education.govt.nz

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OIA: GEMS-48013
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Additional proactively released information in relation to SMART, for your
information only (not in scope of your request):
•  https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/Cabinet%20Pack%20-
%20Establishing%20a%20new%20standardised%20tool_Redacted_0.pdf?
VersionId=h4gLPqajurvR8Cjn1c0RZxcJN3VJHYg6
•  https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201319270%20-
%20Progressing%20commitments%20related%20to%20assessment%20
and%20aromatawai_Redacted.pdf?VersionId=PrZ2qISzWPuylrZWvqSTtk
D2WbZlnIRl
•  https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201335088%20-
%20Twice%20yearly%20assessment%20of%20year%203%20to%208%20
students_phase%201_Redacted.pdf?VersionId=EsJK109_WytUn9hZSDr
9N0EZJxuc0uuq
•  https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201340920%20Assessment%20and%20Aromatawai%20standardis
ed%20tool%20business%20case_Redacted.pdf?VersionId=tHTlCnL0C5U
.vvF0iMcCusQ4WVjypwlr
•  https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201341740%20-
%20Draft%20A%26A%20Cabinet%20paper_Redacted.pdf?VersionId=qLZ
ngVW5ytzKDMZSJAK.bqrO3o5.3elG
•  https://web-assets.education.govt.nz/s3fs-public/2026-
03/R%201345582%20-
%20Direction%20for%20drafting%20of%20assessment%20and%20arom
atawai%20requirements_Redacted.pdf?VersionId=QUmV_xaQgf8TQO85
wAsSNiSBYmmnN1hD
education.govt.nz

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