Why Oppose the Education and Training (Vocational Education and Training System) Amendment Bill
This is not about strengthening vocational education. It’s about dismantling coordinated structures, undermining Treaty partnership, and turning public training into a privatised, centralised system that prioritises data and corporate logic over people and communities.
Here’s what the bill really does, why it matters, and how it is part of a deeper shift towards control and erosion of foundational rights.
What This Bill Really Does
- Dismantles Te Pūkenga: The bill doesn’t reform Te Pūkenga — it disestablishes it entirely, removing the foundation of national-level coordination for vocational education.
- Replaces unified models with fragmented governance: Regional polytechnics and industry skills boards are reintroduced, but without clear accountability to communities or Treaty principles.
- Imposes short-term, fee-charging boards: Industry skills boards can levy fees, manage transitions, and enforce compliance — but are not elected or grounded in community representation.
- Removes explicit Treaty partnership obligations: Successor bodies are not bound by clear Treaty commitments, leaving partnership as an optional courtesy rather than a foundational guarantee.
- Replaces learner-centred care with logistical compliance: Students and staff are treated as data and resources to be moved, not as communities to be supported and respected.
- Protects the Crown, not the people: Legal shields are built in to protect the state from claims — not to ensure fairness or partnership with learners and communities.
Why This Threatens Everyone
- Undermines educational stability: Transition chaos disrupts learning, teaching, and trust in the system itself.
- Removes community voice: Governance is centralised and corporate-facing, with no clear line of accountability to those directly affected.
- Hollows out Māori partnership: Treaty promises are reduced to “if convenient” — not foundational, as they should be.
- Normalises neoliberal logic: Training costs can be shifted onto students and industries, while “efficiency” trumps partnership and care.
- Weakens local democracy: Centralised ministerial power replaces locally accountable leadership, eroding real voice and representation.
The Bigger Pattern
This bill is not an isolated measure. It’s part of a pattern of governance that values deregulation, central control, and financial incentives over real community and Treaty obligations.
From the disestablishment of Te Pūkenga to new powers for short-term industry boards, this approach fractures what was intended to be a collaborative, equitable, and culturally safe system of vocational education.
This is not support. It is not partnership. It is not democracy.
If You See What’s Happening
Let it be clear: this bill is not a fix. It’s a coordinated dismantling — away from unity and community, and towards fragmented compliance and corporate oversight.
If you believe vocational education should serve the people and the land… if you believe Treaty partnership should be central and unconditional… if you believe learners and communities should not be turned into compliance units — now is the time to oppose this bill.
“Vocational education is a taonga — not a product to be disaggregated.” — Ukes Baha