New regulations

The Act consolidates, restructures and updates material from the previous education statutes. The Act replaces the Education Act 1964 and Education Act 1989, and incorporates two recently passed education Amendment Acts: the Education (Vocational Education and Training Reform) Amendment Act 2020 and the Education (Pastoral Care) Amendment Act 2019.

As part of the work to streamline the Act, some of the provisions relating to the operation of school boards, and the pastoral care of international and domestic tertiary students will be moved out of the Act and become regulations. This has helped to shorten and streamline the Act.

No changes will be made to the content of these provisions, other than minor language updates.

Regulations are made through a different process to Acts. A Bill (which becomes an Act) goes through the House and is debated and voted upon by members of parliament. Regulations are made by the Executive branch of government to supplement and support Acts. While regulations are made through a different process to Acts, they still have legal force.

Exposure drafts of the Education (School Boards) Regulations and the Education (Pastoral Care) Regulations 2020:

Some provisions have been moved to new schedules in the Act with sunset clauses

The Act establishes a process for converting these provisions to regulations, through a process known as 'sun-setting'. The sunset schedules are listed in clause 669 of the Act.

Provisions relating to Board elections (Schedule 23), enrolment schemes (Schedule 20), national student numbers (Schedule 24) and when schools must be open (Schedule 21) have been moved into schedules with a date set for their expiry. 

This means the Ministry has a period of up to 24 months to review, consult and update these schedules and convert them to regulations as required before they expire. The Ministry will consult publicly during the conversion process.