Analysing the National Education and Learning Priorities Policy Statement Through the Lens of Fielding’s Person-Centred Education Framework

Abstract

In the 30 years since the advent of the fundamentally system-altering ‘Tomorrow’s schools’ reforms in the 1990s, the education system of New Zealand has undergone many reviews and changes. The recent Taskforce Inquiry into the suitability of the current system to deliver equitably for learners as we approach the third decade of the 21st Century has seen a detailed report produced that proposes more significant change for the system. The Ministry of Education has used this to develop its National Education and Learning Priorities that will drive the next stage of development of the education system in Aotearoa, New Zealand. This analysis examines the report, the subsequent National Priorities and their philosophical underpinnings through the lens of Michael Fielding’s typology of Person-centred education frameworks and suggests that despite a significant shift towards Person-centeredness, the underlying neo-liberal building blocks of our current schools remain, and that it is likely the system will remain focused on competition, high-stakes assessment results and a narrow interpretation of educational success and equity.