The mid 2024 official statistics, quoted from the Education Counts website:

As at 1 July 2024, there were 10,757 homeschooled students. These students belong to 6,327 families and represent 1.3% of total school enrolments.

Out of the 10,757 homeschoolers 63.2% were aged 12 or under, 76.1% had been home-schooled for less than 5 years, and only 3.5% had been home-schooled for 10 years or more.

European/Pākehā students are more likely to be homeschooled than any other ethnic group with 71.7% of all homeschoolers, compared to 41.8% of the total school population (this is based on prioritised ethnicity statistics). Only 15.7% of homeschoolers identify as Māori compared to 24.5% of the total school population, 3.3% of homeschoolers identify as Pacific compared to 10% of the total school population, and 3.0% of homeschoolers identify as Asian compared to 18.9% of the total school population. The ethnicity of 0.7% of homeschoolers is unknown.

Homeschooling Turnover
Between 1 July 2023 and 1 July 2024 there was an overall net decrease of 20 students; 1,969 students entered into homeschooling and 1,989 students finished homeschooling.

The most common age at entry (the mode) was 6, with 37.9% of those starting being 6 years old. The mean average age at entry was 9.0 years old, with 61.3% aged 9 or under, and 0.8% were aged 16 or above.

Of the students entering homeschooling during the year ending 1 July 2024, 64.4% identified as European/Pākehā (down from 78.4% in 2014), 20.4% identified as Māori (up from 8.3% in 2014), 4.0% identified as Pacific peoples (up from 2.9% in 2014), and 3.3% identified as Asian (up from 1.6% in 2014). Ethnicity is unknown for 0.1% of homeschoolers.

The most common age at finishing (the mode) was 15, with 17.4% of those finishing being 15 years old. The mean average age at finishing was 12.5 years old, with 61.6% aged 12 or over, and 20.2% were aged 16 or above.

Of the students finishing homeschooling during the year ending 1 July 2024, 24.5% had been in homeschooling less than a year, 54.4% had been in homeschooling for 1 to 5 years, and 7.4% had been in homeschooling for 10 years or more.

Every family who is home educating exempt students is sent a declaration twice a year (in about March and Oct), covering the periods Jan-June and July-Dec, to sign and return, along with forms in which they state whether they wish to receive the supervision allowance (which is typically paid in late June and late November). For new exemptions that start during one of these periods, the process is a little different. Let's dig into everything you need to know about declarations and allowances. 

Section 38 of the Education and Training Act 2020 is the part which describes the basis on which an exemption may be granted, or revoked, and how long it continues in force. Notably, there is NO mention of on-going reporting or declarations in that section, which means that technically they are not required in order to home educate.

HOWEVER...

The Ministry considers itself responsible to have some way of checking whether any given student, including those who are homeschooling, are being adequately educated. They use ERO reviews of schools, along with the collection of various data such as test results etc, to do that with school children. With home educators, they have the right to do ERO reviews, but not the funding to do them routinely (due to govt policy, see HERE for more). As an alternative, they came up with 6 monthly declarations, as a way of "checking in" with families. These used to be statutory declarations - meaning you had to sign them in front of a JP or similar, attesting to the fact your child had been and would continue to be "taught at least as regularly and well as." They removed the need for the witness of the signature a few years ago, but the declarations remain. 

If you choose not to sign and return them, this does not allow the Ministry to revoke your exemption immediately, as this is not permitted in the law. However, they can instead initiate further investigation, such as getting in touch with you to ask for an update on your learning programme, or ordering an ERO review to satisfy them that your child is being educated "at least as regularly and well as they would be in a registered school." Returning the declaration is considerably less work/stress! If the outcome of their investigations are not satisfactory, then they can move to revoke the exemption under Section 38.

AND, if you don't return the declaration, they will not pay you the allowance, should you wish to receive it - as the allowance is paid under Section 556 of the Act "Grants to Educational Bodies", which does allow the Ministry to set such conditions as the Minister thinks fit. The Ministry use the allowance as the "carrot" to get folk to return the declarations, and they are legally allowed to do so. 

For students whose exemptions are already in force before the current six month period, or whose exemptions begin before the "print run date" of the declarations, these will be sent to you by the national office as part of the mass-mailing of declarations to all such families, usually in about February and August (though the date is up to the MoE and may vary - they used to be later but have moved forward over the last few years). These declarations and attached allowance forms will be for the full period of either 1st Jan-30th June or 1st July- 31st Dec, as appropriate, or slightly less if an exemption starts a bit later, but before the print run. 

In 2024, the print run dates were 15th February and 11th July. 

For students whose exemptions start after the print run dates, a part-period declaration and allowance forms need to be sent to you by the regional office who granted your exemption. If you do not receive these with your certificate of exemption or shortly afterwards (they may email them together or separately), then follow up with your regional office. 

Notes: 

• Regional offices also need to send the first declaration if, for example, they issued the exemption after the print run date but back dated the start date to before the print run date. This can happen, for example, where an exemption is granted during the July school holidays and back dated to 1st July per MoE policy. 
• In years parts, part periods were added to the next full declaration. This changed in 2022, and will not be done. So, if you missed the part period declaration, you can't just add the dates to the next form (also applies to any missing forms) - you need to ask for a copy of the missed one and complete/send it in. 
• If a child is missing from your declaration form, contact your regional office. There may be an issue with their exemption status which needs to be sorted out first, or they've overlooked sending the part-period form. 
• When regional offices issues part-period forms, sometimes they do a separate form for a newly exempt child only, other times they reissue the declaration for all exempt children in the family. Don't worry either way - sign and return it even if you've already sent in a declaration for the older children. 
• I recommend you keep a copy of your declaration form for your records (and the covering letter). It may come in handy if something goes awry, as well as being useful for having your Family Reference Number and Student NSNs on them. Always quote the family reference number when contacting the Ministry. (It's also on your exemption certificates). Once a payment had been received for a period, and you have a more recent declaration to keep on file, you can discard the older ones. 

You can find an up-to-date list of Regional Office contact details HERE. National office (Resourcing) info is near the bottom of the list. 

With the declaration, you will receive forms asking if you wish to receive the allowance, and if so, confirming your bank account details. The first time you do this, you need to send proof of account (and also if it's been longer than 18 months since your last declaration/allowance forms were filed). This proof of account needs to show your bank's logo, your name and account number, but does not need to be certified. You can usually print off something suitable from internet banking (delete or hide transactions/balances - they don't need to see those).​ 

The allowance was first paid in 1990. There's a while history to it which I won't go into here, but from 1990 until 2022, the allowance was never increased by a single cent. Thanks to lobbying by NCHENZ and Homeschooling NZ, it began to be increased by a small percentage in line with annual increases in funding to schools from 2023. The 2024 allowance amounts are:

• $796 for your first child
• $677 for your second child
• $557 for your third child
• $398 for each subsequent child.

These are annual amounts, and so each six months you receive half of the above, or a pro-rata amount if anything has affected your entitlement during the period. 

A few things can affect your allowance:

• If you don't return a declaration form, you will not receive the allowance. (However, if you return it late, you'll still get the allowance - see below)
• If your child's exemption starts (or ends) during the 6 month period, you will receive a pro-rata amount for the period, based on the days in which you were eligible for the allowance. 
• If you go overseas for more than 28 days, you will only be entitled to the allowance for the days in which you were in New Zealand. If less than 28 days, you get the allowance for the whole period. 
• If your child begins a school trial and is enrolled in school for more than 28 days, then you will be entitled to the allowance only for the days in which they were not enrolled in school (ie had an active exemption). If the school trial ends within 28 days, then the allowance is paid for the entire period. 
• If your 16+ student enrolls in Te Kura under the free Young Adult gateway, you will still get the allowance if they enroll in 1-2 subjects, but if 3 or more subjects it's considered "full time" and the allowance (and exemption) will cease. 
• If your 16+ student enrolls in a full time funded course (eg something funded under Youth Guarantees) their exemption and allowance will also end. 
• If your 16+ student stops home educating, then you need to declare this on your declaration forms. 
  
  

If none of the above affect you, and/or you have a valid exemption in force at the time your child turns 16, then you can continue to receive the homeschooling supervision allowance until the end of the year in which the student turns 19, if they continue to be home educated and you continue to return the declarations and allowance forms. 

If you returned the declaration forms by the date specified on the covering letter, you should receive the payment in the week indicated on the letter (it may be any day of that week, depending on the bank). If you haven't received it a week later, then follow up with Resourcing. These dates can vary - in 2024 they were late June and late November. 

Likewise, if the amount seems wrong, you can follow up with Resourcing about this, but first ask yourself:

• Was my exemption in force for the entire 6 month period (1st Jan to 30th June or 1st July to 31st Dec), and not affected by overseas travel, a school trial etc? If the answer is yes, then you should have received the full amount listed above. 
• Did your exemption start part way through a 6 month period? You can use a calendar to count how many weeks it was in effect for out of the 6 months (or how many days) and then calculate how much you should have received. Eg, Mary's exemption starts on 2nd October. That means it will be in force from 2nd Oct to 31st Dec, which is 11 weeks. The full allowance is for 26 weeks (half the year - using rounded/rough figures). So Mary's parent is eligible for 11/26 x $796 (if she's the eldest/only exempt child) = $336.77
• Was your child enrolled in school for a school trial or out of the country for more than 28 days during the payment period? Then like the above point, you would only be eligible for a pro-rata amount. 

The allowance is not taxable income - it's an educational grant. You don't need to declare it to WINZ or IRD. 

You can spend it on whatever you like! Most families spend it on homeschooling resources or extracurricular activities, but you are not limited to that. I've known some families over the years who didn't want to be "dependent" on the allowance in order to home educate, so made a point of spending it on something special which benefitted them but was not directly homeschooling related (eg a dishwasher or a holiday trip). 

If you have missed sending in any declaration and allowance forms by the deadline (or even from past years), all you need to do is catch them up. If you still have the forms, complete and return them. If they are missing, then contact Resourcing and ask for copies. Once you complete and return them, the MoE will catch up missed payments to you, adding them to their next payment schedule (usually run every 2-4 weeks). The Ministry still wants your missing forms. There is no specific time limit on this. 

You will see above where I said that they can initiate investigations if you don't return the forms. First, they would send a reminder. Then they can take further action. However, they don't always do this. Getting things sorted/caught up yourself is unlikely to cause you any issues. 

Note: YOU are responsible for ensuring the Ministry has your up-to-date contact details. If you've moved, then email your regional office (the one for where you now live) and give them your new details. If you've shifted regions, your family's file will be sent to the new office, and your details for declarations etc will be updated. 

Signing and returning the 6 monthly declarations (and ensuring the Ministry has your up to date contact details) is the responsibility of each home educating family. While doing this is not required by law, not doing it can initiate other investigations into whether or not your child is "being taught as regularly and well as..". Along with the declaration, is an optional allowance. Payment of the allowance is dependent on you returning the forms, confirming your bank account details, and may be affected by various specific circumstances outlined above. The allowance is non-taxable and can be spent however you like. 

If you have missed any forms, contact your regional office (if the exemption is new) or the national Resourcing department for new forms. 

Finally the (mid)  2023 stats have been released!

From the Education Counts website:

As at 1 July 2023, there were 10,777 homeschooled students. These students belong to 6,298 families and represent 1.3% of total school enrolments.

Out of the 10,777 homeschoolers 65.1% were aged 12 or under, 77.0% had been home-schooled for less than 5 years, and only 3.0% had been home-schooled for 10 years or more.

European/Pākehā students are more likely to be homeschooled than any other ethnic group with 67.1% of all homeschoolers, compared to 43.9% of the total school population (this is based on prioritised ethnicity statistics). Only 15.0% of homeschoolers identify as Māori compared to 24.8% of the total school population, 3.1% of homeschoolers identify as Pacific compared to 9.9% of the total school population, and 3.1% of homeschoolers identify as Asian compared to 16.8% of the total school population. The ethnicity of 0.9% of homeschoolers is unknown.

Homeschooling Turnover
​Between 1 July 2022 and 1 July 2023 there was an overall net decrease of 122 students; 2,164 students entered into homeschooling and 2,286 students finished homeschooling.

The average age of the 2,164 students entering homeschooling was 9 years old, 80.5% were aged 12 or under and 0.9% were age 16 or above. Of the students entering homeschooling during the year ending 1 July 2023, 68.5% identified as European/Pākehā, 17.7% identified as Māori, 3.5% identified as Pacific, and 4.0% identified as Asian. Ethnicity is unknown for 0.6% of homeschoolers.

The average age of the 2,286 students exiting homeschooling was 12 years old, 55.1% were aged 12 or under, and 15.9% were 16 years old or above. Of the students exiting homeschooling during the year ending 1 July 2023, 51.3% had been in homeschooling less than a year, 28.8% had been in homeschooling for 1 – 5 years, and 7.4% had been in homeschooling for 10 years or more.

Here is the breakdown of the total number of exempt students by region, and the percentage of all the student population they represent, as of 1st July 2023:

The above statistics show a slight dip in home education numbers as of 1st July 2023, compared to a year earlier. This was to be expected, as numbers had dramatically increased over several previous years (2019:6,573 exempt students, 2020: 7,192, 2021:7,749, 2022: 10,945). In every year since homeschooling stats have been recorded, it's normal to see a certain number exit homeschooling (for various reasons) as well as a certain number enter - with the difference being (usually) the net gain. This year the result is a small net loss. 

Children exit home education for a multitude of reasons - aging out of the system, moving on to employment, alternative education (including Te Kura for NCEA), leaving the country, or returning to learning in a school environment. Of the latter, some parents intended homeschooling as a shorter-term solution from the beginning, again for many different reasons, while others' circumstances may have changed, or home education may have turned out not to suit them. Of course, currently we have an unprecedented additional reason - some families chose home education for pandemic related reasons, and now the pandemic has (in effect) passed, they will choose either to carry on home education (it may well have turned out to be the best thing for their family, regardless of the initial impetus), or to return their children to school.

So, a small dip in numbers is nothing really. Especially as the Ministry (and the politicians) seemed very convinced at the time that all those "flocking" to home education would return their children to school as soon as the mandates, masks etc passed. Clearly that hasn't happened, as our numbers are still 164% what they were before the pandemic!

Also, the statistics are just a snapshot in time - taken on the annual date of 1st July. Even during that day, numbers can vary, so these reflect whatever they were on the database at the time it was taken. (Last year I asked for more detailed numbers, and the totals varied from the official ones, for the same day, by about 1700 students, with the only explanation being that "it depends when on the day this was taken"). 

Since that date, the number of exempt students overall has again increased. On the 1st of November, they were 11,072. 

From the Education Counts website:

​As at 1 July 2022, there were 10,945 homeschooled students. These students belong to 6,334 families and represent 1.3% of total school enrolments as at 1 July 2022.

Out of the 10,945 homeschoolers 67.4% were aged 12 or under, 77.7% had been home-schooled for less than 5 years, and only 3.1% had been home-schooled for 10 years or more.

European/Pākehā students are more likely to be homeschooled than any other ethnic group with 67.7% of all homeschoolers identifying as European/Pākehā compared to 45.7% of the total school population (this is based on prioritised ethnicity statistics). Only 14.9% of homeschoolers identify as Māori compared to 25.0% of the total school population, 3.1% of homeschoolers identify as Pacific compared to 9.8% of the total school population, and 2.9% of homeschoolers identify as Asian compared to 15.4% of the total school population. The ethnicity of 0.9% of homeschoolers is unknown.

​Homeschooling Turnover

​Between 1 July 2021 and 1 July 2022 there was an overall net increase of 3,196 students; 4,330 students entered into homeschooling and 1,134 students finished homeschooling.

The average age of the 4,330 students entering into homeschooling was 9 years old, 81.7% were aged 12 or under and 0.9% were age 16 or above. Of the students entering homeschooling during the year ending 1 July 2022, 64.0% identified as European/Pākehā, 19.0% identified as Māori, 3.5% identified as Pacific, 2.9% identified as Asian, and for 0.5% of homeschoolers ethnicity is unknown.

The average age of the 1,134 students finishing homeschooling was 14 years old, 43.7% were aged 12 or under, and 23.6% were 16-years old or above. Of the students finishing homeschooling during the year ending 1 July 2022, 29.9% had been in homeschooling less than a year, 42.5% had been in homeschooling for 1 – 5 years, and 11.1% had been in homeschooling for 10 years or more.

It's now clear that we have a change in government. National and ACT will form the next NZ government, with or without NZ First, depending on the final results due to be announced on November 3rd. When change happens, folk may feel a sense of uncertainty. What changes will happen? What effect will "election promises" and other proposed policies have on our situations, our families, our lives? Clearly the newly elected parties have spoken about making numerous changes in many areas, but here let's talk about what likely or possible effects these parties might have on home education.

First, let's take a quick look at previous governments with National and/or ACT and/or NZ First, and actions they took that affected home education. History is an important backdrop to understanding present and future scenarios.

The 1989 Education Act, created by Labour, brought into being the Ministry of Education, ERO, and the need to apply to the Ministry for an exemption, and also instigated ERO reviews of home educators. I mention these as they are the starting point for all that has followed.

In 1989 the then-Labour government also decided to begin paying a Supervision Allowance to home educators. This began to be paid in 1990, the same year as National took power.

In 1994, National's Education Minister ended reviews of home educators, stating that the expense was not justified.

In late 1996, after the first MMP election, National and NZ First formed a coalition government. NZ First pushed for routine review of home educators, wanting them to have more accountability (this was part of their coalition agreement negotiations). An amendment was made to the Education Act to give ERO specific broad powers to review home educators (they didn't actually have this prior except in the case of investigating a complaint, or reviewing an application in the event of an appeal), and routine reviews resumed in 1997. 

In 2009, National (now in a coalition with ACT, United Future and the Maori Party) again scrapped routine reviews, providing funding for up to 35 on a complaints basis (as it has remained since).

There have been no other polices that I can recall from National, ACT or NZ First that have directly targeted/affected home educators. However, policy changes don't all come from government themselves - the Ministry and ERO have some degree of autonomy and take on certain things independently. For example, in 2014-15, the Ministry conducted an in-depth "review of homeschooling" and as a result made changes to their application forms and process, in-house procedures and so on. At times regional Ministry staff have attempted to apply government policies for schools to home educators - though we are actually not subject to them and don't have to comply. Some examples of this would be when the govt set a target for 85% of 18 yos to achieve at least NCEA 2 or equivalent by 2017, or more recently when Aotearoa NZ Histories are being required to be taught in schools - some Ministry staff asked parents applying for exemptions how they were going to include/make these things happen in their home education programme. But both of these policies (along with most others) are for students in the state education sector, and do not apply to home education. In 1996, the Ministry (not the government) asked home educators to write self-evaluation reports in lieu of reviews. Most refused, and this fell by the wayside.

Prior to this election, NCHENZ reviewed the parties' written policies, and also emailed them asking about any intended policies around home education (and also raising the matter of the supervision allowance needing proper review/updating). In respect of the three parties potentially forming the next government, we know the following:

National Party: Over the months prior to the election, Erica Stanford (as education spokesperson for National), asked a number of parliamentary questions about home education. A few weeks ago, I attended a public event where she was there to talk about education, and directly asked her some questions about her thoughts and intentions regarding homeschooling. She made a number of statements which expressed “concern” about not knowing anything about the quality of education home educated students are receiving, but also showed little understanding of how home education works. She indicated that she would like to meet with NCHENZ directly to discuss further, though that has yet to be arranged. Erica is very likely to be the next Minister of Education.

In response to our email, which was sent shortly before that meeting, NCHENZ received the following response (published in their Oct newsletter to members):
“Erica and the policy team have been doing research and asking questions regarding some the challenges the home-schooling sector is facing. She has been meeting with relevant stakeholders and has been listening to what the government needs to do to improve home schooling in New Zealand.

If elected, the National Party will be looking very carefully at some of the shortcomings of the system, including looking at the allowance to see if it is still fit for purpose, as this has been something that has frequently been raised by stakeholders. While there are not any specific home-schooling policies out now, this is definitely an area that Erica is looking into.”

ACT and NZ First: neither party have any written policies related to home education, and neither responded to NCHENZ's emails. Since the time NZ First pushed for ERO reviews in 1997, they have held no further policies around home education, though they have been in government since.

It has always been an accepted option in NZ for parents to choose to educate their children at home. This has been allowed for in every set of education legislation enacted in NZ, since the first (1877) Education Act. None of our governments have desired or tried to do away with homeschooling as an option. In fact, most of our governments have liked the fact that this option exists - because they know that there will always be some students for whom the state education system is not suitable for one reason or another, or who they just can't reach. The fact that parents can choose to step in and accept responsibility for the education of their own children (removing the "problem" from the government's plate) is a positive as far as they are concerned (whatever may be right or wrong about this thinking).

The main questions/concerns/ideas that float around in government heads (if they think about us at all) about home education are the following:

• Why are so many people taking their kids out of school and going homeschooling? We don't know.
• We don't know if they're receiving a "quality education" at home.
• We don't know what outcomes home education leads to.
• We don't have any evidence that they are safe (though we also don't have any evidence that they're not).

Why do these things concern them? Governments are considered responsible for funding and overseeing the compulsory education sector etc. By extension, they tend to imagine themselves to be responsible for the well-being and education of all NZ children. If a group of kids is found to be being let down by the state sector - eg they are not kept safe, or they are not achieving in education - then this creates headlines, enquiries and so on, which reflect badly on the government. The government never likes to look bad - that's how you lose elections.

So when it comes to home education, what they fear most is not that we exist - but that they don't KNOW much. They don't have data and statistics and reports and so on to prove that all is well or to answer their questions. If someone asks an Education Minister "how do you know that home educated students are receiving a quality education" and your only answer is "we don't", well that doesn't go down well. Ask Jan Tinetti - who was asked this question in a pre-election interview, which was followed by headlines screaming "Labour failing home schooled children."

When someone in government wants to know the answers to questions such as the above, they ask the Ministry to provide them with the information. Currently, however, the Ministry doesn't hold (or think they hold) the answers either. This is partly their own fault (both MoE and government). They CAN come up with data on outcomes (they did it for the 2014 review), they just don't usually make the effort. They COULD know about the quality of home education programmes if they'd been doing more reviews - but haven't had the funding to do so. And so on.

If any changes are made, I think they will centre around the four "concerns" I outlined above.

In respect of WHY people are choosing home education, this is not a question asked in exemption applications, simply because it is parents' right to choose this - and they don't have to justify it. However, the MoE's draft updated applications have added this as an optional question, simply because the government keeps asking them this question and they have nothing to offer, so this would be an attempt to begin to collect data on it. Parents would be able to choose to answer it or not.

In respect of QUALITY of education programmes at home, Erica Stanford thinks this needs looking at. She tossed around some ideas like having families submit samples of work to "someone, perhaps local school principals." Clearly that idea is a non-starter for a bunch of reasons! However, if the government wants to check on home educators' learning programmes, they have an allowance in the law to do so - ERO reviews, which is the ONLY legal way they can do so. They simply have to choose to fund more of them, and advise the MoE how many should be done per year. The MoE have in fact been asking for more funding for reviews every year for some time now, and been told no each year - it just hasn't been a government priority. Whether, when faced with actual costs, the new government will consider it a priority remains to be seen. An ERO review of ONE homeschooled student costs around $4-600 (exact figures haven't been published in a few years). A bit of math on ERO's budget figures suggest that the review of an entire school costs around $1200. In reviewing a school, they are effectively checking up on the education of possibly hundreds, if not thousands, of students. You can see why previous governments have considered the review of home educators not to be an effective use of money.

I do think it's likely we will see some kind of increase in the number of reviews to be conducted per year. How many, and whether it will constitute "routine reviews of all home educators" remains to be seen. It's not just about money - but also about having ERO staff to conduct the reviews. Given that one of the National party's election platform policies was to CUT state sector employees, this may or may not be an option for them at this time if more staff would be needed. Just for comparison, when reviews were "routine" previously, they reviewed about 600 students per year. In 2009, when they ceased routine reviews, there were just under 6000 exempt students. We are heading towards double that now. Anyway, if they fund, say, 1000 reviews per year, it would take about 10 years to do one review of each exempt student. And that's only assuming successive governments through that time continue to fund the reviews at the same rate.

It is perhaps likely that "routine" reviews may be re-instigated for a time - long enough for the evidence to show, once again, that most home educators are doing well, and that this expenditure is of limited benefit.

It's also possible that alternatives to the current standard model of ERO review may be considered (in fact some have already begun to be discussed with ERO) - this may allow for options that are less intrusive for families plus allow ERO to get at least a high-level view of more families more quickly. We will see.

In respect of SAFETY of home educated children, well this comes back to ERO reviews again -  in other words, someone "checking up on" families and seeing that the kids are doing fine. Once again, ERO is the only legal way for the government to do this, except in instances where someone has reported some kind of welfare concern to a government department or the Police about a specific child or family, and Oranga Tamariki becomes involved.

And when it comes to OUTCOMES, there are some options - the MoE could do what they did in the 2014-2015 review and compile data from NZQA about student achievements for those who have been home educated vs those who were in school. Or they could compile, with the help of the sector, broader data on outcomes. They could collect this from families themselves, when students finish home educating and/or several years later, and from providers of exams, certificates etc etc. Again, though, this kind of activity costs money, and the government has to be willing to fund it, or the MoE to decide it's important enough to do within their operational budget.

What else might change? Well, the Supervision Allowance seriously needs looking at, and Erica Stanford has acknowledged this has been repeatedly raised. I hope we will see a substantial increase in the allowance in the not too distant future. While there have been fears in the past that this would come with more "strings", I think that is unlikely. Because any strings they add actually make more work for the Ministry, and they don't have the staff or resources for that. They've already rejected any possibility of being able to, for instance, process "reports" from home educators. What else could they actually require of us? The law allows for the Ministry to pay grants to "educational bodies" and to "determine the amount, and conditions, of each grant." - currently that is for us to sign the declaration and return it in order to get the grant (aka supervision allowance). Any other "conditions" they might add would need to be ones appropriate to require of an "educational body." No other part of the Act allows them to set any conditions upon home educators, other than gaining an exemption and being subject to ERO reviews.

The Ministry has already been working on updating their application forms and guidance (for nearly 18 months now), in theory to make the process simpler and clearer. So we can expect to see those updated forms sooner or later. The forms will not impose more restrictions or conditions on home educators. They may have tweaked their expectations for an application - if any amendments are unreasonable, then we will respond appropriately and inform the home education community of any recommended actions also.

The National Party has talked about their intentions for the education sector, including "an hour a day (each) of reading, writing and math", standardised curriculum and assessments, requiring the use of Structured Literacy, and so on. All of these policies apply to schools controlled by the government - that is State and State Integrated Schools. They do NOT apply to home educators (or private schools). The law allows parents to choose "how" as well as "where" their child will be educated. We need to "teach as regularly and well as" - but the details of our programme of learning are up to us. No, we will not be required to engage in testing, or implement any of the other specifics the schools will.

National/ACT (with or without NZ First) as government are unlikely to introduce any major changes that affect home educators other than those discussed above. They're certainly not going to "cancel" home education as an option, or force us to use specific testing. They may increase the number of ERO reviews per year for a time. Hopefully they will increase the Supervision Allowance. The MOE will likely complete the update of their application forms, including some optional questions to provide data to government. And if the government really want to know about long term outcomes, they may commission the Ministry to collect/compile data on that. Otherwise I don't expect we'll see much in the way of changes.

It would be wise for families to reflect upon how they track their children's learning journey and progress - what evidence they could present if they had an ERO review - and consider whether there are any ways they might like to improve/tweak this. Further ideas and information to support this will likely be forthcoming from various parts of the home education sector, so look out for those.

NCHENZ will hopefully meet with incoming Education Minister/s as well as the MoE in the next few months. If you're not a NCHENZ member yet, join - it's free (though donations appreciated) - so you will receive the quarterly updates.

The work you are doing as you raise your children and guide their learning at home is precious and valuable! Be encouraged that no party is seeking to disrupt that; they only are interested in assuring themselves that they have evidence that our kids are being "taught at least as regularly and well as they would be in a registered school."

Back in December I shared that the Ministry is presently working on updating the application forms and guidance documents. This is not intended to make the application process harder, but they’ve been working on this for the past year because the big spike in applications caused them to see areas which they felt needed improvement. Their stated aim for the review of the forms is to “to ensure the application process and requirements are clear for parents, and to support staff decisions. The large increase in home education applications in late 2021 highlighted areas to regional and national office staff which needed to be reviewed to ensure a smoother application process overall.”

I would also note that the Ministry has promised a refresh of the forms since they introduced the current ones in 2016, due to persistent technical issues with them.

The Ministry sent NCHENZ, as well as HSNZ, a draft copy of the new forms, and we provided substantial feedback on them a few weeks ago. The Ministry is now working further on the forms. What further changes they will make and when these will come into effect are yet to be seen.

Once I know what the final format will look like, NCHENZ and I will provide updates on anything families need to be aware of. 

Meanwhile, a reminder of my longstanding advice - it is best NOT to use the Ministry's application form, except for Section One. For the rest, use a separate document to answer the questions. Just this week I've seen another case where a family completed their application using the Ministry form, but when they sent the file to the MoE, at the Ministry end it appears to be 3/4 blank, even though the information is definitely there - both I and the family can see it, but Ministry staff can't, even in a copy transmitted by me on the family's behalf. That's just one of the frustrating examples of the many technical difficulties experienced with the current forms. Hopefully they will be resolved as part of the updated forms in due course. 

This article looks at HOW home educated students can gain NCEA, including the criteria to gain credits, how link schools work etc. For a more general overview of how NCEA itself is structured, and the changes taking place, as well as alternative high school qualification options, and ideas around preparing for qualifications, see THIS article. 

NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) is the NZ state high school qualification. It is administered by NZQA (New Zealand Qualifications Authority). Among other things, NZQA determines what unit standards and achievement standards are approved, oversees the assessment of student work for credit, and maintains the databases of standards, assessment rules, and student achievements. 

Only organisations with "consent to assess" (student work) and "consent to access" (the framework) are permitted to assess work, determine whether it meets the requirements to gain the credits attached to the unit of work, and upload the results to the framework. These organisations are typically: most secondary schools, most tertiary education organisations, and other approved education providers. There are NO homeschool organisations with consent to assess/access, and so home educated students must have work assessed by one of the approved providers in order to gain credits and have them added to their learning record on the NZQF (NZ Qualifications Framework, which is controlled by NZQA). 

NCEA has three levels - Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 - typically completed in Years 11, 12 and 13 in schools. 
NCEA is changing, and these changes are being rolled out over the next several years. The timeline has been adjusted several times, to this may be subject to further changes. As of now (July 2023), the following applies:

Students entering Level 1 in 2024 will be under the new system for Level 1, which is that they will need to gain 60 Level 1 credits, plus 20 literacy/numeracy credits. 

These literacy/numeracy credits will be gained by sitting a Common Assessment Activity (CAA) which is an external exam done online at schools, offered at least twice (possibly more) per year. Once the new NCEA system is fully rolled out, ALL NCEA students will need to pass the CAA in order to be awarded any level of NCEA, though they can attempt it as many times as needed in order to pass. HOWEVER...

For 2024 and 2025, students will also be able to gain the required literacy and numeracy credits through an alternative set of assessment standards. There has been considerable concern expressed about the NCEA changes, which has resulted in this temporary allowance, among other tweaks to the timeline. I don't yet have information on what these assessment standards will be, though I suspect they'll be a continuation of the current lit/num standards in the meantime, or something very similar. 

Students entering Level 2 in 2024-2025 will still be under the present system, which is that they must gain 60 credits at Level 2 or above, plus 20 credits at any level, while also meeting the Level 1 literacy/numeracy requirements (which is what usually comprises the extra 20 credits). 

Students entering Level 2 from 2026 onwards, will be under the new system, which is that they must gain 60 Level 2 credits, plus have passed the CAA exam. 

Students entering Level 3 in 2024-2026 will still be under the present system, which is that they must gain 60 credits from Level 3 or above plus 20 credits from Level 2 or above (these can be previously earned "carry over credits") and must also have met the Level 1 literacy/numeracy requirements. 

Students entering Level 3 from 2027 onwards will be under the new system - requiring 60 Level 3 credits, plus have passed the CAA exam. 

University Entrance requirements (via NCEA) are currently that the student must have gained each of the following:

• NCEA Level 3
• 14 credits at Level 3 in each of three approved subjects
• Literacy - 10 credits at Level 2 or above, made up of:
  • 5 credits in reading
  • 5 credits in writing
• Numeracy - 10 credits at Level 1 or above, made up of:
  • achievement standards – specified achievement standards available through a range of subjects, or
  • unit standards - package of three numeracy unit standards (26623, 26626, 26627- all three required), or
  • numeracy unit standard 32406 OR te pāngarau unit standard 32412. (these are for students in 2022-2023 only)

University Entrance requirements are being reviewed in light of NCEA changes, and there are expected to be some amendments from 2024, though this may be pushed out due to the delay in Level 2&3 changes. 

More information about the NCEA change programme, approved standards, NCEA in general and University Entrance can be found at the following websites:

• New home of NCEA
• NZQA's existing/older site
• NZQA's revamped (still in progress) site​

(There's quite a bit of cross over in internal links between the above three sites currently). 

Each year, NZQA publishes its current "assessment rules" for NCEA. In previous years, there has been a set of rules and several pages on the website dedicated to homeschooled students, including information on how our students are assessed, using a link school, and a document to get the school to sign. This year, they've removed all that, and just have the one set of rules, which specifically state that they replace, among other things, the previous assessment rules for home-schooled students. The 2023 set of rules can be viewed HERE. 

What is not immediately clear in reading them is HOW they apply to home educated students, and whether there are any significant changes on previous years, so after some digging, and some emails with NZQA (it only took them 6 months to answer me, hence the delay in publishing this article!), here's what you need to know: 

Buried on the website is a document called "Internal and External Assessment of Home-Schooled Students." It explains that:

• Home-schooled students and other persons who are not enrolled in a School are only eligible to be assessed against standards [for credit] or enter in a New Zealand Scholarship subject through linking with a School with Consent to Assess.
• There is no obligation on the part of any School to act as a Link School for home-schooled students wishing to enter for standards assessment or enter a New Zealand Scholarship subject.
• Home-schooled students wishing to enter for assessment standards or enter a New Zealand Scholarship subject must do so through a Link School using the appropriate form (see below)
• A home-schooled student must meet all entry and eligibility criteria as specified in the Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess 2022 and are subject to the requirements of those Rules.
• A home-schooled student who wishes to enter for New Zealand Scholarship must not have completed their secondary education in a previous year and must attest to their eligibility through a Justice of the Peace.
• Before accepting an entry for any unit or achievement standard from a home-schooled student or other person, the Principal's Nominee of the School must be satisfied that the assessment programme undertaken by the home-schooled student is:
  • fair, valid, reliable, and consistent nationally with the assessment Standard; and
  • all work presented for assessment by the student or other person is authentic.

             Note: All relevant internally assessed work must be moderated by the Link School.

• The Link School must carry out the necessary administration tasks for entering home-schooled students in examinations or other external assessments.
• The home-schooled student's results must be processed along with other students’ results from the Link School.
• A School which agrees to link with and / or perform other services for students who are home-schooled may make arrangements necessary to do so, including for any administrative costs.

You can view the above document HERE. It has an additional page with some links, though a couple of them are out of date. 

Even more buried is the form you need to use. I've saved a copy and you can download it HERE, as it's not easy to access from the NZQA website. This form has sections for internal assessment agreement, external assessment, and scholarship entry. Once completed, you need to keep a copy, and so does the school. The form is useful in discussing the options with the school, as many of them have no idea whatsoever how this works. 

Note that internal assessment is where the student completes work that is then assessed by a teacher at the school. External assessment is where the student sits exams (which are marked via NZQA). The new CAAs are externals, though they are sat at different times of year to the other external exams, which are held in set blocks near the end of the year. 

As noted above, most schools have no idea how NCEA assessment for homeschooled students works. If you would like to make a link school arrangement, you will need to approach suitable schools near you, make an appointment, and discuss it with them, which means you will likely need to explain to them how this works, and request for them to agree to be a link school for your student. Remember, they are under no obligation to do so. Take copies of the two documents linked above to show them, and if they agree to do so, get them to fill in their parts of the second form. 

The reality is that getting a high school to agree to be a link school for external exams is usually not too difficult. In such cases, all they need to do is take care of a little paperwork, order the examination papers for the student, ensure they have a place to sit in the exams, collect the papers afterwards and send them in. They're doing this for 100s of other students and one more is no big deal. They also routinely do this for Te Kura students, so are relatively familiar with the process. Making an appointment to see the Principal's Nominee and discussing it and completing the paperwork is often all it takes. 

However, finding a school willing to act as a link school for internal assessment is a completely different matter. Most schools consider themselves too busy with their own students and don't want to even think about this. And if they are more willing, they will have questions like - what are they assessing? Who sets/decides the work? How does it align with the assessment standards? How do they know the student has not cheated? etc. By the way, there are no set answers to these questions - they are all matters for discussion/negotiation. The result is that it is rare for a school to agree to provide internal assessment for home educated students. The Ministry is convinced that most schools should be willing to do so, but this has never been the reality. 

One of the most common questions in light of the above is: can a student attain NCEA via external credits only? The answer to this is - possibly. Each set of external exams includes several papers, each one examining a certain assessment standard, and each worth a set number of credits. You can find out the details of exams and credits for each subject on the NZQA website. It takes a bit to get your head around the details and how to find things on the website, but to give an example, I can see that the Level 1 Science exam for 2023 will include the following:

• 90940 - Demonstrate understanding of aspects of mechanics - 4 credits
• 90944 - Demonstrate understanding of aspects of acids and bases - 4 credits
• 90948 - Demonstrate understanding of biological ideas relating to genetic variation - 4 credits

Now, a student does not have to sit ALL of the papers in an exam - they may have just enrolled for certain ones - and it's worth noting that they have the full 3 hours available in an exam to work on whatever papers they are sitting, even if it's not the full number of available ones. But if our hypothetical student DID sit all three of the above science papers, and was successful in all of them, they could gain a total maximum of 12 credits in science. 

Remember that for each paper you plan to have your student sit, they need to have completed suitable learning/work ahead of time to prepare them to sit that specific paper. 

So the answer to the question of whether a student can gain NCEA (and/or U.E) via exams only needs to be worked out based on:

• What subjects they will do
• What papers are within the exams they will sit, and which ones they will be prepared for/ready to sit
• The total number of credits available this way

Schools are not the only organisations which provide programmes where students can gain credits. Pretty much any institution or training provider that provides recognised training will have their courses based on recognised standards which are attached to credits on the NZQF. These credits will be at various levels, starting at Level 1 and going through to much higher levels. Completing any approved standards with an agency who has consent to assess/access will give your student additional credits which will be added to their learning record and are included in their overall attainments. 

Some ways that students may gain credits and/or complete NCEA other than via secondary schools include:

• STAR courses - these are short (around 4 month) courses offered by various providers. STAR stands for "Secondary Tertiary Alignment Resource" and most of these courses are offered by universities or polytechs to secondary students. While websites may say there are no fees, that applies to students enrolled in schools, as govt funding for STAR courses is provided through schools. Home educating families will have to pay for these courses if they wish their students to enroll. These courses are for capable Year 12&13 students and are at first year university level. 
• Gateway courses - these are structured workplace-based learning programmes for Year 11-13 students, typically overseen by Industry Training Organisations (ITOs). Again, they are funded for students in school, but home educators need to pay for them. An example would be MITO's StartUp programme, where students would spend time in an automotive workplace (parents need to arrange this), usually one day per week. They would have specific coursework/assignments to complete, and there are specific activities they have to complete and be assessed on by a suitable workplace supervisor and/or ITO assessor. 
• Foundation Studies - these are courses via tertiary providers aimed at school leavers who have not completed NCEA Levels 1 or 2. Generally these are not ideal for secondary students, as they really are aimed at adults with little educational background, and the content may not be very interesting. For this reason, some providers, such as Open Polytech, will no longer allow home educated students to enroll in these courses, but some providers may still do so. 
• Enrolling in Te Kura under the Young Adult gateway - this is free for 16-19 year olds who are not enrolled in school, and enables students to work towards NCEA. If a home educated students is enrolled full time in Te Kura (3 or more subjects) their exemption and homeschooling supervision allowance ends, but on the other hand, they are then eligible for funded access to STAR and Gateway courses. Working via Te Kura is also good for students who don't want to sit exams, but wish to gain NCEA via internal assessment only. This is possible for most levels of NCEA, though it may be more difficult to attain U.E via internal assessment only, due to the need to gain at least 14 credits in each of 3 approved subjects. 
• Pre-trade and primary industry courses - these are full time programmes for students who are 16+ (15yos with exemptions may be accepted), in which the students are attending in person, working on both practical and academic requirements. They are aimed at students wanting to attain Level 2 and the skills to enter an apprenticeship or similar. There are various providers around the country. Some providers also offer shorter distance courses to give students a taste and help them gain a few credits. 
• Additional credit-earning courses. Many short courses in various things have some credits attached. For example, completing a St John first aid course would gain the student some credits. There is a directory of education providers HERE - once you see who is on it, you can look up the websites of the ones you are interested in to find out more about what they offer. 

NCEA is the NZ state high school qualification. Gaining NCEA is a means to an end, not an end in itself. When considering whether your student needs NCEA, and how to access it, think about what they are wanting to do AFTER they finish high school, and what they need to be able to pursue this. Not all students need to complete NCEA. They may wish to gain an alternative high school qualification, or just need to complete enough credits to demonstrate they have what it takes to move on to whatever is next for them. 

NCEA credits can only be gained on work that is assessed and recorded by an approved education or training provider, who are deemed to have "consent to assess" (the work) and "consent to access" (the qualifications framework). Credits are attached to units of work, known as "standards" which may be internally or externally assessed. Home educated students can have an arrangement with a local high school to act as a "link school" for assessment purposes; most often they are only willing to do so for external assessments (exams). 

Students can also gain credits by completing courses through alternative institutions and/or training providers.

Getting to grips with NCEA and how it all works is akin to learning a whole new language. Don't be discouraged if you found some of the terms used above confusing, or you are having trouble wrapping your head around how it all comes together. This takes time! The same can be said for any qualification system - they each have their own terms, requirements and processes.  

I hope that the above information has given you something of an overview of how NCEA works and how it can be accessed for home educated students. 

This week the supervision allowance for home educated students has been paid to most eligible parents. A significant number have found they were underpaid, mostly those who have exempt students age 16+ who have enrolled in 1-2 subjects with Te Kura. For those students, the allowance should NOT be affected. I have been investigating. I'm posting this information here so those in this situation know what action to take. Once this has been resolved, I will add the pertinent points to my more general article on the Supervision Allowance and Te Kura or Distance Learning. I encourage you to read that also if you have more general questions about whether you should be eligible for an allowance. 

When a student is enrolled in Te Kura under the Young Adult gateway, their enrolment details (name, NSN, date of enrolment etc) goes through to the Ministry of Education on a list, as the Ministry fund these students. Any students on the list who hold a homeschooling exemption, the Ministry extracts onto another list and sends back to Te Kura, asking for confirmation of how many subjects those students are enrolled in. Te Kura sends the list back with a list of how many subjects each student is enrolled in. The Ministry can then make updates at their end to ENROL and RAD (the national student and homeschooling databases respectively). 

If the student is enrolled in 3 or more subjects, then their exemption is ceased, and they are no longer entitled to the homeschooling supervision allowance. If they are enrolled in only 1-2 Te Kura subjects, then the exemption and allowance continues. 

At least, that's the theory. However....

There are multiple points in this chain of processes where things can go wrong.....
1) Te Kura itself first updates the student on ENROL, the national database. They tell me that if they note that the student is currently listed as exempt, then they try to make a point of contacting the family to ask how many subjects in total they intend to enroll in (as initial enrolment does not necessarily reflect full intended subjects), and to explain if it's 3 or more the exemption will cease. That's an excellent idea, but I'm confident from the comments of many families that does not always happen. In the process of updating the student on ENROL, unless they have checked and found/acted otherwise, their action of adding them as a Te Kura student will automatically cease the exemption. 
2) If the Ministry fails to check with Te Kura, or Te Kura fails to return confirmation of subject numbers to the Ministry, then things won't get corrected as they should.
3) Even if the above does happen, there is no guarantee that follow up will be correctly done. In theory, because of the above process, there should not be the current issues occurring - the sheer volume of them shows that things are not being done property at some point in the chain. And from my conversations with the Ministry and Te Kura, no one actually knows where it's going wrong, making it hard to fix. 
4) There is no set regularity to the process of sending through lists, responding to them, and taking follow up action, which doesn't help the efficacy of the process. 
5) In theory, the student's learning advisor is also supposed to make notes on the record that the student is home educated and only doing 1 or 2 subjects, but how/if that is picked up on and actioned is unclear. 

As I said to the lovely folk at Te Kura today, it shouldn't be this complicated! I will therefore be submitting a suggestion to the person currently working on improving the online enrolment forms, which should help:

On the online enrolment form for Young Adults, add the following questions/information:

• Does this student currently hold a homeschooling exemption? Y/N
• If yes, what is the total number of subjects this student intends to be enrolled in this year?

Note: If your home educated student enrolls in 3 or more subjects, their exemption and homeschool supervision allowance will cease. If they enroll in no more than 1-2 subjects, there will be no change to the exemption/allowance. 

I've already been told this would help a lot, as it would immediately alert the enrolment team to the situation, and allow them to ensure that they update ENROL in a way that will not cease the exemption where the student will only be doing 1-2 subjects and holds an exemption. The person in charge of changes however, is on leave until the 3rd of July. 

I've also received a note from Resourcing on 4th July saying:
"We have had situations where students have enrolled in 3 or more subjects, but then have only attended 2 of those subjects. If this is the case, the parents need to ensure that they have withdrawn the student from those subjects formally with Te Kura and advised us of this change."
​
So if that applies to your student, make sure you follow up. 

There are two departments involved in this - Te Kura's enrolment team, and the Ministry's resourcing department. In the first instance, it is best to contact Te Kura, because they need to update ENROL (if applicable) and also provide the Ministry with proof that your student is only doing 1-2 subjects. In theory they have already done that (via the lists), but the Ministry will not make further changes without evidence. You can contact the Te Kura enrolment team on 0800 65 99 88, select 1 from the menu. 

The Resourcing department is responsible for issuing a declaration if one was not already done, and making the missing payment. You will likely also want to contact them, quoting your homeschooling reference number and stating the issue. You might write something like this:

"My child (insert full name) has a home education exemption, family reference number (insert number). They were enrolled in Te Kura for 1 (or 2) subjects from (insert date). Their exemption/supervision allowance should therefore not have been affected, but we have not received the expected payment amount [OR: we have not received the declarations or payment]. Attached is evidence that (child's name) is only enrolled in 1 (or 2) subjects [OR: we have been in contact with Te Kura and requested that they ensure the record reflect he/she is enrolled in only 1 (or 2) subjects.]. We therefore request that you ensure that our exemption remains in force or is reinstated if necessary, and that the missing payment is processed."

You can email Resourcing at [email protected] 

Any payments that need to be made will usually happen within a month or so once Resourcing has things sorted. 

If your student is newly enrolled in Te Kura in 1-2 subjects, then until we know things have been fixed, it would be worth proactively checking with Resourcing prior to the next allowance payment that your student is correctly on the system and full payment will be processed for them. If they were enrolled at least a month prior to the declarations coming out, then how they are written on there should be accurate, but if they were enrolled later, it may not reflect what their system now says. In theory you could write on the forms, but I have no confidence that Resourcing actually reads/actions notes on the declarations which parents add. 

When you enroll a student, either for the first time, or when enrolling them at the start of a new year for continuing studies, or if you have made changes to the subjects they are enrolled in, I recommend you communicate with Te Kura to make sure they are aware, and appropriately note, that your student is exempt, and should remain so. 

However, note that if you do enroll in 3 or more subjects at any given time, the exemption will cease, and along with it the allowance. If they later drop out of Te Kura, or drop subjects, it is unlikely that they will be able to get the exemption back. 

If this situation has only now come to your attention, and you have been historically "short changed" over the last couple of years or so, you may have a case to make for back payment with the Ministry - though you'll need to take that up with them. 

If your student is enrolled in Te Kura full time (3 or more subjects) under the young adult gateway, there is also no student support payment (aka Te Kura supervision allowance) payable from Te Kura. 

If your student is enrolled in Te Kura full time under another funded gateway, they may be eligible for the student support payment, however, that is a completely separate system, managed entirely by Te Kura, and none of the above applies. This is also true if a previous exempt student transfers to full time free Te Kura (eg due to geographical isolation). 

Hopefully the above information will help you to resolve any issues you have may have experienced with missing supervision allowance payments for your child, and to proactively ensure that the issue does not arise again. I also hope that Te Kura and/or the Ministry can refine their systems to make it less complicated and more effective. 

In New Zealand, children between the ages of 6 and 16 are required to be enrolled in and attend a registered school unless they are exempt. The most common form of exemption is a homeschooling exemption granted under Section 38 of the Education and Training Act 2020.

​Some children learn at home, but are not exempt as they are enrolled in Te Kura or other distance learning schools. Confusion often arises around homeschooling vs distance learning options, and when exemptions are needed, which this post seeks to clarify. 

Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu, known as "Te Kura" for short, is the NZ correspondence school. It is a registered state school, which teaches the NZ curriculum. Originally set up in 1922 to provide distance learning to students who were too geographically isolated to attend a local school, now Te Kura has students who are enrolled for variety of reasons which are grouped by "gateways." There are 10 free (govt funded) gateways under which students can be enrolled. The gateways for pre-school, primary and secondary students are for students who:

• are from families who are geographically remote or itinerant, or living overseas 
• have been referred to Te Kura by the Ministry of Education for their engagement and wellbeing, as they are at risk of disengaging from school due to psychological or psycho-social needs, being non-enrolled, or having been excluded or expelled 
• have learning support needs
• are pregnant or are young parents
• have been referred by the Ministry for Children, Oranga Tamariki or the Department of Corrections
• are elite athletes, dancers, musicians, sportspeople or performers whose extra-curricular commitments make a regular school routine impossible
• would like a second chance at completing their high school qualifications (young adults)
• are unable to attend an early childhood education centre locally because of distance and isolation or because demand exceeds the places available in their area, or because of a long-term illness or medical condition.

The specifics of each of the above can be found in Te Kura's Enrolment Policy document. How to apply varies, depending on the gateway - in some cases you can simply enroll via the website, in others you will need a referral from the Ministry or similar. In the first instance, talk to enrolment staff at Te Kura for more information. 
NB: there are some gateways that are not funded, also set out in the enrolment policy, such as certain overseas students, and exempt fee-paying students (see below). 

When students are enrolled in Te Kura, their work/resources are (mostly) provided by the school, and their progress is assessed and monitored by the teachers, just like in a regularly school. 

All students who are enrolled under one of the funded gateways are still enrolled in a registered school (in this case, Te Kura) and therefore do not need/hold a homeschooling exemption, and are not homeschoolers, even though they are learning at home. 

However, students who do not fit the criteria for free enrolment in Te Kura may still be enrolled if their parents first gain a homeschooling exemption, and then choose to enroll on a fee-paying basis. A full programme costs about $8K per year, or individual subjects about $1800/year. The 2023 fee schedule can be found HERE. Because such students would hold a homeschooling exemption, their parents are taking responsibility for their education, and simply "purchasing" Te Kura courses as a resource; they are homeschoolers. 

Note that students who hold a homeschooling exemption and are aged 16-19 can be enrolled in 1 or 2 free subjects with Te Kura under the young adult gateway, and still retain their homeschooling exemption. However, if they enroll in 3 or more subjects they are considered "full time funded" and their exemption would be ceased. 

A fairly recent phenomenon is that there are now other distance learning schools registered in NZ. They are not state-owned, but private. Some are physical schools with a distance learning option. Others are virtual schools only. Any student may be enrolled in these schools, in the same way as they can be in other private schools - the individual schools may have enrolment criteria, but generally speaking any family can choose one of these schools for their student. Being private schools, however, there are fees attached, and no free options. Fees vary, from $3000/year to about $23,000/year. NZ private registered distance schools are as follows (in brackets are the type of curriculum and high school qualification they offer):

• Mt Hobson Academy (NZ curriculum/NCEA)
• Amana Christian School (ACE curriculum/ACE Certificate)
• Otamatea Christian School (ACE curriculum/ACE Certificate)
• ATEA College (Cambridge curriculum/Cambridge exams)
• Crimson Global Academy* (Cambridge curriculum/Cambridge exams)
• Destiny School (unknown)

Enrolment and fee information can be found on these schools' respective websites, which I have linked. 

For students enrolled in these schools, like Te Kura or any physical school, the school is responsible for providing the teaching, curriculum, assessment and monitoring etc. 

Students enrolled in these schools are enrolled in a registered school. They do not need/hold a homeschooling exemption and are not homeschoolers, though they are learning at home. 

However, there are other distance learning schools which are NOT NZ registered schools (for example they may be based overseas). Families who wish to enroll their children in those schools will need a homeschooling exemption first, and therefore will be homeschoolers. 

*Note: Crimson Global also offers part-time options, where families can either be dual-enrolled between another registered school and CGA, or be home educated with an exemption and do some subjects with them. 

Homeschoolers are those whose families have decided to take responsibility for their child's learning programme themselves and have applied for and gained a homeschooling exemption under Section 38 of the Education and Training Act through an application for exemption to the Ministry of Education. 

These families may choose from a range of curriculum and other resources, including, if they wish, paying for Te Kura courses, paying tutors etc, though most families don't do that. Whatever they do choose, they are taking personal responsibility to ensure that their child will be "taught as regularly and well as they would be if enrolled in a registered school." There are no free resources provided by the government - the parents are solely responsible for sourcing and funding resources (other than some access to Ministry resources through Down the Back of the Chair)

Homeschooling families are eligible for a small stipend (called the "supervision allowance"), which they can use as they see fit. They can purchase whatever resources they wish, or use no paid resources and make up their own lessons ultilising free resources like the library or free downloads etc. 

More on how to get started homeschooling can be found HERE as well as on the Ministry's webpage. 

Homeschooling (with a Section 38 exemption) is commonly also known as "home education" in NZ, and is referred to as such on the Ministry's website and most homeschooler/home educator's websites in NZ. 

Many parents who have children enrolled full time as funded Te Kura students also think of themselves as homeschoolers, because their children are "doing school at home." They may be involved in local homeschool groups (where such groups welcome Te Kura students). Because of this, and because members of the public who may not know any different also tend to lump all home-based learners into the "homeschooling" basket, folks who are new to the whole scene are often confused, and as a result get the wrong end of the stick about when/if they need a homeschooling exemption or not, whether they can just enroll in Te Kura as an option, whether the government provides curriculum and resourcers and so on. Te Kura staff tell us that they are needing to explain the difference to parents on a daily basis (though not always successfully), and I and other home education consultants find we are often doing the same. 

In an ideal world, perhaps we'd all have/stick to clearer "labels" but of course that's not likely to happen, and we also respect folks right to use their own terms for their own lives/children. However, the simplest ways to identify the categories are:

"Homeschooler" or "home educator" = student who has a Section 38 long term exemption. It is exclusively these students to whom the Ministry and Te Kura would apply these labels. To them, all other students are NOT homeschoolers. Homeschool parents are legally responsible for overseeing/delivering their child's learning programme, and for monitoring their progress. 

"Distance learner" - student who is enrolled in a distance school, whether Te Kura or a private distance school, and does NOT hold a Section 38 exemption. Distance students have teachers who are legally responsible for delivering and overseeing their programme of learning, and assessing/monitoring their progress.

As explained above, there are some students who are both exempt and enrolled in Te Kura via the fee paying gateway, or enrolled in an off-shore distance programme; legally they are homeschoolers/home educators. A student cannot be both exempt and enrolled in other NZ private distance schools, as enrolment in them is enrolment in a registered school which voids any exemption, and those schools don't have alternative options like Te Kura does. 

A fellow homeschooling parent and consultant, Nina Lawgun, spoke to Te Kura staff today about this issue. The following is copied/modified with permission. 
The points that Te Kura feels parents need to be reminded of and have clarified for them are...

1. Te Kura and any other registered online schools are not classed as homeschooling; they are schools.
2. Te Kura is a state school that offers free distance education to students who cannot attend their local school due to one of 10 very specific reasons, listed here [copied above]
3. To homeschool a parent needs to apply to the Ministry of Education for a homeschooling exemption. Their page on homeschooling is here. [This website also contains much info on homeschooling, and I offer a guide to exemptions and other resources]
4. To enroll at Te Kura no exemption is required, but a student must meet their free entry enrollment criteria, and if they do, then Te Kura as a government-funded registered state school will become their official school. However, they are not homeschooling, even though they will be learning and studying at home. [The same applies if they are enrolled at any other NZ registered distance school, except they will pay fees.]
5. If a student does not have a homeschooling exemption, that their parents have written an application for and sent for approval to the Ministry of Education, they are not classed as homeschooled, no matter how much work is involved on the part of the parent.
6. However, a homeschooled student, with an exemption, can apply to Te Kura as a private candidate at a cost of around $8000 to undertake study through them. In this case, since they will still have an exemption, they will retain their homeschooling status via this paid route.
7. At age 16, a homeschooled student with an exemption can take up to two courses through Te Kura and not lose their homeschool exemption. Three or more courses at Te Kura means you are enrolled with them as your school, and are no longer homeschooled. This is known as the Young Adult gateway and is free.

Hopefully this post will have clarified for you who are (legally) homeschoolers (aka home educators) and when an exemption is or is not required in order for your child to learn from home. 

Personally, I totally understand when Te Kura parents consider themselves homeschoolers, and I also understand how important for many of those families connecting with others via local homeschooling groups can be, and how little social support or connection is otherwise often available for those families. The purpose of this article is not to push any of you away or make you feel unwelcome! It's to define things legally and for the sake of those who are looking to take their kids out of school but are being confused by the terms they hear or in some cases the direct misinformation they have been told (or info they have misunderstood). For such families, clarity around the terms, options, requirements and situation is essential. 

If you're a parent newly considering having your child learn at home instead of at school, I hope this article has made things clearer. If you're a parent whose child is already a home-based learner, whether homeschooled or doing distance education, I'd simply encourage you to make sure, when you have conversations with other parents, to be aware of the confusion that can happen, and where warranted, explain the different options and requirements. Using differentiated terms may help with that. 

Every family who is home educating exempt students is sent a declaration twice a year (in about March and Oct), covering the periods Jan-June and July-Dec, to sign and return, along with forms in which they state whether they wish to receive the supervision allowance. Previously I have written THIS post about some recent changes to this process, as well as discussing why these declarations must be completed, and what happens if you don't. 

This article will go over some further new/current specifics as well as changes to the supervision allowance. 

A small allowance is payable to home educating families who choose to receive it. It was first introduced in 1990, and has not changed one cent since that time. Last year, after significant lobbying by Homeschooling NZ, and work by NCHENZ, the government agreed to increase the allowance by 2.75%, in line with the yearly funding increase for schools, from 2023. The new figures have been released with the declaration forms - they actually calculate out to be 3.3-3.5% increase, depending on the number of exempt children in a family, but I note that what's actually happened is they have just made them the same as the current Te Kura Student Support Payments, which no doubt makes things simpler for them. The payments will now be:

First child: $384.50 (half year) = $769/year 
Second child: $327 (half year) = $654/year
Third child: $269 (half year) = $536/year
Subsequent children: $192.50 (half year) = $385/year

(While we are very glad that there has been an increase, this does nothing to address the long-standing lack of increases, and this is a matter that we will be looking at further.)

The Ministry's Resourcing department does a print run of declarations for all families with current exemptions twice a year, and sends those out by post to the addresses on file. 

However, if an exemption was granted after the print run close-off date, then the regional office that processed the exemption is responsible to send the family a part-period declaration (from date of exemption to end of that six month period); they should do so with the exemption. For the first half of 2023, the print run close off was 2nd Feb. If you have a child whose exemption start date is later than the 2nd of February, and you did not receive a declaration, then you need to contact your regional office and request they send this to you. 

If you have been homeschooling for some time, and did not receive the most recent declaration at all (wait until the end of March to allow time for them all to be posted out), or have misplaced it, then you can contact Resourcing to ask for another copy. 

If you have recently gained an exemption, or you have a child over 6 whose name is not on the declaration, the Ministry ask that you contact your regional office, as one of the following could be the case:

• The child's exemption has not been approved (or not yet started) - or they may not have correctly updated the database.
• The exemption was approved/started after 2nd Feb so was not included in the print run and the regional office have not sent you the declaration.
• The child has been recorded as having ceased home education (this could be because of a school trial, overseas travel, full time enrolment in free Te Kura or other funded programmes, the exemption being revoked, or a clerical error). 

All of the above are matters for the regional office to sort out. 

Note: when contacting the Ministry about any home education matters, please always quote your family homeschooling reference number, which is found on your exemption certificates, declarations, and other Ministry correspondence. 

Declarations (if sent by Resourcing) are accompanied by a cover letter which has useful info on the back of it. The March 2023 version has a couple of errors in it where they have forgotten to change dates from the previous letters, which may cause confusion. 

Where it says "...if your child's exemption date is later than 1st July 2022" it should read "...if your child's exemption date is later than 1st January 2023.." (then you will be paid a pro-rata amount for this period, from the date of exemption to the end of June, rather than the full amounts above). 

Where it says "If you have home educated your child(ren) for a period other than shown on the form..." the dates should be 1st January to 30th June 2023. 

The first time you receive the supervision allowance, you need to supply proof of your bank account number. You will also need to do this if it has been more than 18 months since you last received a payment (eg if you stopped homeschooling for a time, but now have a new exemption, been overseas for that period, or have not been returning the declarations/getting the allowance). 

Your proof needs to include a Bank logo, an account number matching the one you have written on the form, and show the name of the account holder(s). Usually you can print something suitable off from your internet banking - eg a copy of a statement, but delete your transaction details, which they don't need to see. You don't need to get this certified by the bank or anyone else. You can have payments made into an account in a name other than your own if you wish, just so long as all the right details are provided. 

The deadline to return the completed declaration is Friday 5th May 2023. If it is received by then, payment will be made in the week of 19-23rd June 2023. It may appear in your account on any day of that week, and this will vary by bank. Do not contact the Ministry to ask about missed payments until at least the following week. 

If your declaration is sent in later than the deadline, you will still be eligible for the allowance, but the payment will be delayed. The Ministry will add the payment to their payment schedules, which are put through when full or on a periodic basis. This means that payments are usually made in 2-4 week cycles, so it may take a month or so for you to receive the delayed payment. You do not have to wait until the next supervision allowance run in December. 

Even if you do not wish to receive the allowance, you still need to sign and return both the declaration AND the allowance forms (which ask if you wish to receive it). For more on the legal particulars of this, see HERE

Hopefully the above info, and that in the linked article, tell you everything you need to know about the 6 monthly declarations and allowances. Let me know if I missed anything!