Why Is the Government Implementing New Zealand Initiative Policies?

As I continue my investigations into Erica Stanford and her education policies, it’s time to go down the rabbit hole (sadly we won’t find wonderland) and look into the Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) that she appointed not long after her appointment as Minister of Education. All indications suggest that the list of names was almost already to go, that the Ministry of Education was consulted and suggested a number of names. Four of these were appointed, the other eight appointees were people whose names did not appear on the Ministry’s list of recommendations.

One of these was Professor Elizabeth Rata  and, as Bevan Holloway has found out, the Ministry advised against appointing her to the group. 

‘Stanford is actively choosing to surround herself with people, like Rata, who have a stated aim of ending decolonisation’s success, and who, like Derby, argue that structural racism doesn’t exist.’

Dr Michael Johnston, one of the people the Ministry did recommend, was appointed as chairperson, against the Ministry’s recommendation. People with a curious mind may wonder why the Ministry recommended him for the MAG and then didn’t recommend him as chair.

Teacher and occasional blogger Melanie Dorrian (who helps run the Save Our Schools Facebook page) wrote an article on this group not long after its appointment, so I won’t go over territory she covers. 

I’ll note here that I’ve worked with James Chapman and while I disagree with his reading beliefs, he was always good to work with and I don’t doubt his integrity. I also am aware of the reputation of Christine Braid and again I have no reason to doubt her integrity, So this group is a mixed bag.

However let’s look at two others in the MAG (apart from Elizabeth Rata), starting with Dr Michael Johnston. 

Dr Johnston is a cognitive psychologist, employed by the New Zealand Initiative. That is enough to raise concerns, given the ideology of this right wing think tank. As a cognitive psychologist he apparently has no hands on knowledge or skills in teaching and educational practices, yet has published and spoken widely over the years about his vision for education and his “Solutions for New Zealand’s Education Crisis”, published 27th April 2023.

• “Introducing a new, knowledge-rich curriculum centred on literacy, numeracy, and disciplinary subjects.

• Redesigning the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) to encourage more coherent teaching and reduce superficial learning.

• Reforming initial teacher education (ITE) to focus on effective teaching methods based on the science of human information processing, sound curriculum knowledge, and formative assessment literacy.

• Introducing a performance-based career structure for teachers, with promotions based on professional standards.

• Enabling schools to hire professionals without teaching qualifications and streamlining the process for hiring international teachers.

• Expanding the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA).

• Refocusing the core research function of the NZCER on large-scale quantitative, generalisable research on teaching and learning.”

Notice anything? 

I’ll discuss the claim about New Zealand’s “education crisis” at another time – there’s more going here than that bald statement allows.

Of the other members, the one that stands out is Dr Melissa Derby, who was appointed Race Relations Conciliator in August 2024, an appointment welcomed by the Free Speech Union, which is enough to raise an eyebrow, given some of the members of the Free Speech Union, such as Stephen Franks, Ani O’Brien and Jordan Williams. 

She has also contributed to The Common Room website, alongside such people as Paula Bennett, David Farrar, Dr Oliver Hartwich, (Executive Director, The New Zealand Initiative), Karen Chhour, Sean Plunket and, yet again, Jordan Williams,  amongst others.

As I wrote about Erica Stanford, people can be judged by the company they keep. Check the list for yourself.

There is clearly a very strong New Zealand Initiative influence on the government’s education policies (and on many other policies as well. In fact it is not too hard to draw a conclusion that two of the governing parties, National and ACT, have been charged with doing just that, implementing New Zealand Initiative policies. 

This video on Facebook by Brie Elliot really spells out the involvement of the New Zealand Initiative:

How a Private Think Tank’s Wish List Becomes Law

Apologies to the people who don’t have a Facebook account – I suggest you ask someone who has one to play it for you. 

Brie says:

“What if I told you that a private think tank basically handed the government a blue print for education and health reforms before the last election even happened?

Before the last election the New New Zealand Initiative ran ads across all media services like this and see if the government actually implemented any of them.”

She then breaks down the advertisements and shows how the government is in the process of implementing each part.

As well as education Brie also discusses the New Zealand Initiative’s health recommendations and shows how these are also being implemented.

(I recommend you follow Brie on Facebook – her latest video is about Elizabeth Rata.)

Presented like this it is blindingly obvious whose agenda is being implemented. 

It is imperative that we all do what we can to publicise this.

Sending people the link to Brie’s video would be a good start.