Replacing education.govt.nz

The technology platform for education.govt.nz needs to be replaced and this is scheduled for 31 October 2024. Following this, the site will be more stable and user-friendly, with content and design informed by audience research.

Preview site on 21 August

On 21 August, we’re releasing a preview of the site for you to explore and provide feedback.

A reliable platform and content our audience needs

Education.govt.nz is our main website for sharing information about New Zealand’s education system with parents and whānau, educators and school staff, and education sector suppliers and service providers.

Up to 10,000 people visit the website each day and it gets around 180,000 page views a week. While the current website is an important channel, it is almost 9 years old and prone to technical issues. The replacement will offer greater reliability and stability.

Based on research

The design and content are informed by research we did in 2023, talking to more than 2,500 people who make up our key audience groups. That included learners, whānau, parents, educators and education agencies. Then, we conducted interviews with around 70 of those people.

Our research told us the existing website has become challenging to navigate. 40% of users we talked to said they have difficulty finding the information they need.

Upgrading the website gives us the opportunity to put users’ needs first and make the website user-friendly.

What website users want

We heard that:

  • education.govt.nz is their ‘top spot’ for education information – they’d like to access everything from this website
  • they want content to be easy to find
  • they want practical content, relevant information presented in quick-read articles that are easy to scan and digest.

What you can expect on the upgraded replacement website

The address will still be education.govt.nz.

There will be less content to navigate and better pathways and signposts to help find what you need. We have enhanced the search with the ability to filter content by topic to help you find the information you’re looking for.

When you visit the site, you can select your audience group to see content most relevant to you. Content will appear in our audiences’ preferred format — quick-read articles, with the option to ‘dig deeper’.

The website will include te reo Māori translations of navigation labels and content headings and meet New Zealand Government Web Standards.

Closing Bulletins and other websites

On 21 August, we are closing these 3 websites and combining their essential content on the preview website, so visitors can find what they need all in one place:

Bulletins.education.govt.nz(external link) will close on 31 October.

There will be automatic redirects in place for each of the sites to help you find the information you’re looking for. If you have bookmarks, you will need to make new ones.

Recent Bulletins, newsletters and consultations will be available on preview.education.govt.nz(external link).

If you have questions or need help finding something, email web.channel@education.govt.nz.

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