Annual Report 2017 — Part one

Our purpose and role

Our purpose

We shape an education system that delivers equitable and excellent outcomes.

Our vision

Our vision is to see all children and students succeed personally and achieve educational success.

We want every New Zealander to:

• be strong in their national and cultural identity
• aspire for themselves and their children to achieve more
• have the choice and opportunity to be the best they can be
• be an active participant and citizen in creating a strong civil society
• be productive, valued and competitive in the world.

Our stewardship role

The Ministry of Education is the lead advisor to the Government on education, and also the steward of the education system. Stewardship in this context means:

• focusing on educational achievement for all children, young people and adult students, in support of their social and economic outcomes
• providing advice on the long term health and performance of the education system
• providing support to raise the quality of teaching
• ensuring the system reflects and fulfils our responsibilities under the Treaty of Waitangi.

What we do

We need to make sure the system works for every learner, at every stage, and as a whole; and help educational leaders deliver the best outcomes for each and every child and student. To achieve this we:

• regulate and support early learning providers, to ensure they are set up appropriately to provide education and support to children
• support schools and teachers to raise achievement through advisory and support initiatives, as well as learning programmes for individual students and their families or whānau
• provide learning support services to children and young people, and support to early learning services and schools
• deliver direct infrastructure services to help schools function – including property, transport and information technology
• set payroll strategy and monitor the schools payroll service to support an effective school workforce
• administer the funding for early learning services and for schools, and hold responsibility for tertiary education funding which is administered by the Tertiary Education Commission
• gather, analyse, publish and use evidence, data and knowledge across the system
• provide advice to government across the system.