Board Matters Term 3 2026

Your mahi for Term 3 2026

Download our Board Task Checklist, which covers the tasks you’ll need to undertake this term. 

Workshops and webinars

Concerns and Complaints – When Issues Arise, Process Matters (Workshops or Webinar) 

Complaints can be challenging, but following the right process helps ensure they are handled fairly and effectively.  

These practical sessions help board members to understand the difference between concerns and complaints, clarify the board’s role, and gain confidence in the process. 

Find the sessions that suit you and secure your spot today. 

Note: Keep an eye out for Strategic Planning and Reporting events later in the year. 

GovHub Resource Centre refresh

The GovHub Resource Centre website is being redeveloped, with the refreshed site scheduled to launch at the end of July.

The new site will feature an updated look and feel, improved accessibility and enhanced functionality, while retaining all resources currently available to board members.

You will continue to find the Resource Centre at: https://www.resourcecentre.org.nz/open_in_new.

Remaining politically impartial during the 2026 General Election

With the 2026 General Election approaching, it’s timely to remind school boards that state and state-integrated schools must remain politically impartial.  

Schools and boards may encourage participation in the election, but must not promote or oppose any political party, candidate, or policy, or display political advertising on school grounds. 

Read the Ministry's guidance for schools and boards: 2026 General Election information for schoolsopen_in_new.

Strategic planning - What should your board be doing now?

In preparation for your board’s 2027-2028 strategic plan, community consultation and information-gathering should be underway.

Your board is required to consult with your school community to determine their aspirations and values. This consultation must include students and staff, as well as parents, whānau, and the wider community.

Bringing together community feedback, an understanding of the paramount objective, and your school’s current performance will help identify the priorities that will shape your board’s strategic direction.

Have a look at the Resource Centre for more about the strategic planning process.

Education and Training (System Reform) Act changes

The Government’s Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Act 2026open_in_new came into force on 6 July 2026. Note, there are different commencement dates, with some of the changes affecting schools occurring within the next few months. 

• The Act makes significant changes to the Teaching Council, updates processes for attendance, curriculum, and responding to schools of ‘serious concern’, and mandates selected schools to participate in international education research. There are also changes for charter schools and the use of physical restraint in school hostels. 

• New Zealand School Property Agency, a new Crown entity, will manage, plan, build, maintain and administer the education property portfolio and will be operational by no later than 1 November 2026.  

• The Act also replaces the requirement for school boards to consult the school community about the school’s health curriculum, with a requirement to regularly inform the school community on this curriculum, its delivery, and parent rights under section 51 of the Act. 

We are working with the MOE to understand the changes and plans for implementation.  Further information on what this means for boards will be available as work progresses. 

Learn more about the changes: Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Actopen_in_new.

Useful information from the Ministry of Education

For those wanting to find out more about the other initiatives and updates from the Ministry of Education, have a look through these links: 

• New Zealand Sign Language interpreters for school eventsopen_in_new 

• Updates to the National Curriculumopen_in_new 

• New Senior Secondary Qualificationsopen_in_new 

• Changes to Positive Behaviour for Learning (PB4L) fundingopen_in_new 

Staffing Entitlements

The Ministry of Education has begun monitoring schools' use of salary units and management allowances, with a particular focus on schools identified as overusing their entitlements. 

Schools identified by the MoE as being in an overuse situation were notified on the 30 April 2026.

The 2026 year is a monitoring-only phase designed to give schools a full year to track and adjust to bring their salary units and management allowance usage within entitlement.   

It is possible that the purported overuse is a coding error with EPL. School leaders should check that the correct designations are being used for staff holding units and allowances. 

Any review of salary units and management allowances will need to follow the terms of the relevant CA. 

From 2027, the MoE have stated that overuse in 2027 (and beyond) will be recovered from a school’s quarterly operational funding instalments, with the first recovery in Q1 2027 taken from the July 2027 instalment. 

More information can be found here: Monitoring your usage of salary units and management unitsopen_in_new.

Principals and boards are encouraged to act now: review current allocations, plan adjustments for 2026, and seek guidance from GovHub (0800 782 453, option 2 or eradvice@govhub.org.nz) or the Ministry at operational.support@education.govt.nz.

PPCBU Principals – Tranche 2 PLD/CCA

The Ministry of Education have advised that they will issue a notification to eligible principals on 20 July regarding the second tranche of the PLD fund / Curriculum Change Allowance under the Primary Principal (PPCBU) Collective Agreement. The option to nominate the Curriculum Change Allowance instead of the PLD fund is available only to PPCBU principals.  

Principals covered by the PPCBU collective agreement, or an IEA reflecting those terms, will receive the communication directly.  

Nominations open on 20 July 2026, and close on the 5 August 2026.  

Boards may wish to confirm their principal's preferred option ahead of these dates to support PLD planning. 

Changes to how teaching standards are set, reviewed and maintained

From 6 July 2026 new legislation changes how teaching standards are set, reviewed and maintained in New Zealand. 

Responsibility for setting, maintaining and reviewing teaching standards has transferred from the Teaching Council to the Secretary for Education.  

The Teaching Council remains the independent professional regulator. There are no immediate changes to existing teaching standards, registration, or practising certificate requirements. 

Schools and teachers will continue to work with the Teaching Council as usual. Any future changes to standards will be developed with the sector and clearly communicated. 

For more information, visit the Ministry’s Teaching Standards webpageopen_in_new.