This Supplementary Order Paper amends the Education Legislation Bill (the Bill) to make a number of further amendments to the Education Act 1989 (the Act). The main objective of these amendments is to facilitate the lawful administration of field-based initial teacher education programmes, which involve trainee teachers being employed to teach unsupervised in schools while they continue their studies. To achieve this objective, the Act is amended to—

• empower the Secretary to establish trainee teaching positions in schools; and

• permits boards to appoint only trainee teachers to those positions.

The amendments also insert into the Act new definitions of initial teacher education programme, trainee teacher, and trainee teaching position.

The Supplementary Order Paper updates a cross-reference in section 65 of the Act. It also amends the definition of regular teacher in section 91A(1) of the Act and amends section 91G to provide that the salaries of trainee teachers are paid by boards (not through the central funding mechanism by which the salaries of regular teachers are paid).

The Supplementary Order Paper inserts into Part 2 of the Bill a new subpart 1AA, which makes amendments to the New Zealand Council for Educational Research Act 1972 (NZCERA). The main changes effected by these amendments relate to—

• the manner in which members of the Council are elected and appointed; and

• the introduction of criteria for appointment of members to the Council; and

• the introduction of flexibility in the length and commencement of terms of appointment; and

• the Council’s rule-making powers and the status of the rules.

New clause 35D of the Bill replaces section 6 of NZCERA with new sections 6 and 6A. New section 6—

• replaces the requirement for 1 member of the Council to be appointed by the Governor-General with a requirement that 1 member be appointed by the Minister of Education; and

• replaces the requirement for the 6 elected members to be appointed by the Governor-General with a requirement for 5 members to be appointed by the Council following elections carried out in accordance with the election rules; and

• requires the Council to appoint 3 members (rather than to appoint 2 co-opted members).

New section 6A sets out criteria that must be considered by the Minister and by the Council when making appointments to the Council, including that the appointee must have the appropriate knowledge, skills, and experience to assist the Council to perform its functions.

New clause 35J of the Bill inserts new section 12A into NZCERA, providing that members of the Council are not personally liable for any act or omission of the Council or for any loss to the Council arising out of any act or omission by the member if the act or omission was in good faith with the intention of performing the functions of the Council.

New clause 35Q of the Bill replaces section 30 of NZCERA with new sections 30 and 30A, updating relevant terminology and enabling expenses of members of the Council to be paid in accordance with the Government’s fees framework. A definition of fees framework is also inserted into section 2 of NZCERA (see clause 35B of the Bill).

New clause 35R of the Bill substantially amends section 33 of NZCERA, which concerns the Council’s power to make rules. The amendments remove from the rule-making powers the detailed list of administrative matters, such as providing for the custody and use of the common seal, because these matters are now more commonly dealt with through operational guidelines and policies. Under section 33, as amended by new clause 35R, the Council would be required to make rules prescribing the method of election of members of the Council (which rules must include the notification of elections) and would be permitted to make rules that are necessary to enable the Council to perform its functions. The amendments to section 33 would also make the Council’s rules disallowable instruments for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2012, in order to accord with current policy and practice in relation to tertiary legislation (because those rules have legislative effect and do not fall within any of the established exceptions to instruments being disallowable).

The Supplementary Order Paper makes further amendments to NZCERA to remove spent or redundant provisions, to update banking and accounting provisions, and to replace gender-specific language with gender-neutral language.