Education Matters

The New Zealand Business Roundtable has taken a strong and active interest in education policy over many years.  We see it as one of the most important elements in the well-being, future prospects and success of New Zealand children and society.  For society, education is an investment in human capital and for individuals it is a key to economic opportunity and many other non-economic benefits.

The Business Roundtable has contributed extensively to debate, research and commentary on policy, current issues, structures and strategies at all levels of education in New Zealand, largely through the Education Forum (www.educationforum.org.nz) which the Business Roundtable was instrumental in establishing and continues to support.  Among major studies undertaken in recent years is Education Matters: Government, Markets and New Zealand Schools by Dr Mark Harrison, The New Zealand Curriculum by Dr Kevin Donnelly, Parental Choice as an Education Reform Catalyst: Global Lessons by John Merrifield, and A New Deal: Making Education Work for All New Zealanders by Norman LaRocque.

Education Matters, the Business Roundtable’s current education project, has been set up as an up-to-date information hub to bring this and other work together and to draw attention to the high priority the Business Roundtable places on education reform.  

In recent years, in particular, we have actively engaged in the promotion of school choice. We have long held the view that a decentralised education system that enables choice, diversity and competition to flourish is the key to raising educational achievement in New Zealand.  While our current school system serves many children well and enables many to succeed and excel, others are not so fortunate. By international standards, New Zealand has a very long ‘tail’ of educational underachievers, including a high proportion of Maori and students of all ethnicities in low socio-economic and ‘at-risk’ communities.  For example, at NCEA level 1, there is an achievement gap of 35 percent between schools in the top two deciles (9 and 10) and those in the two lowest (1 and 2). 

Those interested in the topic of school choice will find many relevant articles, reports and other publications on this website. In particular, School Choice: The Three Essential Elements and Several Policy Options by Stanford University Economics Professor Caroline Hoxby is a short and very informative report setting out the essential elements of school choice programmes and providing evidence and examples from a range of mainly US school choice programmes to illustrate how programmes can be refined to deal with legitimate concerns about individual and social welfare.  

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