What the Education Ministry was allegedly told not to write down
A manager at the Education Ministry told staff to stop taking notes during a hui of about 60 teachers discussing te reo Māori in the languages curriculum and other curriculum documents, a whistleblower has alleged. RNZ
The whistleblower said the manager described the discussion as "out of scope" and said she did not want the criticism in notes that could be released under the Official Information Act — the law that lets the public ask for government documents. The whistleblower said many teachers at the hui were calling for a better te reo Māori curriculum and for more te reo across other curriculum areas.
Two other people with direct experience working for the ministry told RNZ it was common to receive verbal instructions for changes that could be seen as controversial. They said those instructions included removing Māori words from ministry documents, including curriculum drafts.
The person who provided video footage to RNZ said ministry staff were repeatedly asked to delete the word "Aotearoa" and other Māori terms from draft curriculums. The instructions were deliberately verbal and never put into writing, that person said.
The video showed a senior ministry manager telling staff not to mention in writing feedback about draft curriculum documents from staff in the office of Education Minister Erica Stanford. The official, described as a top curriculum official, told staff not to keep written records because they were 'OIA-able', according to reports on 21 September. Stuff NZ Herald
The ministry said the content of the video did not meet its standards and it was investigating to check it was an isolated incident. It had earlier described the senior official's comments as "inconsistent" with expectations. Newstalk ZB The whistleblower who leaked the video said avoiding the Official Information Act was not a one-off.
The broader context here is familiar to people who work between the Beehive and government departments. The question is not whether staff discussed sensitive curriculum feedback. It is whether a record was created and kept. A verbal instruction leaves no file note and no email trail for requesters, the Ombudsman or ministers to check. If advice from a minister's office is acted on but not recorded, it is hard to establish who sought what change and why. An internal review can establish the facts in one team. It is less well placed to reassure teachers, iwi partners and the Press Gallery that curriculum decisions were documented properly across the work programme.
