32110 (2025). Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to the Minister of Education

32110 (2025). Dr Lawrence Xu-Nan to the Minister of Education: In response to Reply 30831 (2025), how, if at all, is the Ministry of Education ensuring that home educating students are being taught at least as regularly and well as in a registered/specialist school, when, as at 16 June 2025, 548 home-educating whānau were not contacted and had not declared they were continuing to teach their children at least as regularly and well as in a registered/specialist school for the 2024/2 period?

Hon Erica Stanford: I am advised by the Ministry of Education (the Ministry) that home educating families are not required to complete a declaration stating that they are continuing to teach their child at least as regularly and as well as a registered or specialist school. The Ministry only assesses whether a parent meets the exemption standard at two points: • When an application for home education is assessed by Ministry staff and a decision made to grant (or refuse) a certificate of exemption. • If concerns are raised about the quality of an individual home education programme and the Ministry initiates the education review process to assess whether the parent continues to meet the exemption standard. Outside of the assessment of the application or a potential education review, the Ministry does not contact home educating families about whether they continue to meet the exemption standard. This is also my response to written parliamentary question 32152 (2025).