Education is shaping up as a major Election 2026 battleground, with PPTA Te Wehengarua president Chris Abercrombie putting the spotlight on curriculum reform, teacher workload and whether schools and kura will receive enough resources to deliver the changes being demanded of them.
The Government is undertaking significant reform of the national curriculum, including changes across both the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, alongside changes to assessment and secondary qualifications.
The scale and speed of those reforms have become a point of tension with teachers.
PPTA Te Wehengarua has strongly opposed parts of the Government’s education reform programme, particularly proposed changes that it says would give the Education Minister greater influence over curriculum decisions and shift responsibility for professional standards away from the Teaching Council.
Abercrombie has argued that years of major changes across education have placed sustained pressure on teachers and school leaders, raising questions about whether reform is being developed with the profession or imposed on it.
Funding will be central to that debate.
Budget 2026 included more than $131 million for literacy, te reo matatini, maths and pāngarau initiatives, including professional development, targeted teaching support and new classroom resources.
The Government has also adjusted parts of its curriculum timetable. Years 9 and 10 content under the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa is due to be taught from the beginning of 2027, while implementation of some Years 0 to 8 learning areas has been phased across later years.
For Waatea audiences, however, the debate extends beyond the mainstream education system.
The future strength of kura kaupapa Māori, wharekura and Māori-medium education will be a critical measure of whether education reform works for Māori.
The Government says it is investing in the bilingual education system, including new Te Reo Rangatira and STEM resources for wharekura, new pāngarau resources and a te reo Māori professional development programme intended to reach up to 50,000 teachers.
But the question is whether those resources will be enough to meet the aspirations of Māori communities and support the kaiako required to deliver them.
PPTA’s own 2026-2029 strategy commits the organisation to supporting tino rangatiratanga for Māori education, increasing Māori participation in the teaching profession and advocating for greater investment in public education.
That puts teacher recruitment and retention firmly into the election conversation.
New curriculum documents can set ambitious expectations, but schools and kura still need enough specialist teachers, manageable workloads, professional development, classroom resources and leadership capacity to turn those expectations into better outcomes for ākonga.
For Māori, there is an additional challenge — ensuring reform strengthens rather than sidelines te reo Māori, mātauranga Māori and pathways where Māori communities can exercise greater authority over the education of their tamariki.
As Chris Abercrombie joins Waatea, the election-year question facing politicians is becoming increasingly straightforward: if Aotearoa wants a more ambitious education system, is it prepared to properly fund the teachers, kaiako and kura expected to deliver it?
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