Notes Towards a New Agenda for Policy-Making in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Abstract

1991 was not an auspicious year for the development and implementation of education policy. The assumptions that have guided educational policy making in Aotearoa/New Zealand since 1988 remained. Namely, that education has performed badly, so badly it is in need of radical overhaul and that the risks associated with such a revolutionary strategy are worth it, even at the expense of alienating parents and educationists. Such radical surgery is intended, among other things, to address the urgent issues of reducing the fiscal debt and of setting in place a system of education which will provide for the future economic needs of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Precisely what the future needs of the economy will be with respect to educated labour is a matter of debate...