The Government offered Labour multiple opportunities to be briefed on the NCEA change process, but the party’s education spokeswoman Willow-Jean Prime initially didn’t respond to these invitations and then flat-out declined them.
It was only in late July, as the Herald was revealing changes to NCEA were coming and about a week before the reforms were announced, that Prime got in touch with Education Minister Erica Stanford.
By that stage, Stanford said key decisions had already been made and therefore “the opportunity to influence the substantial direction of the proposal is no longer available”.
The revelations come despite Labour’s leader Chris Hipkins speaking of the importance of cross-party consultation.
“As Minister of Education, I went to great lengths to make sure that the then-Opposition were extensively involved in the review of NCEA. I think the current Government should do the same,” Hipkins told the Herald last month.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking he would “sack” Prime if he was the Labour leader.
"Well I would [sack her] because of course there’s lots of other acting MPs I could put into her place, but if I was Jacinda’s little helper, who by the way is returning to the scene of the crime with extra petrol this weekend, then I don’t know what I’d do because she could be the best option that Labour has."
Asked why she didn’t initially take up Stanford’s offers, Prime told the Herald she chose to meet teachers, parents and others before the minister.
“When we do meet, I’ll be making sure the views of people I’ve been meeting with are central to the conversation we have,” she said.
The Herald has obtained correspondence from Stanford and her office to Prime and Hipkins over recent months that shows the minister attempting to brief the Opposition on the NCEA change process.
A text message appears to show Stanford reached out to Prime about NCEA after the Labour MP took over the education portfolio from Jan Tinetti in March.
“Hey Willow-Jean, congrats on the new role! Will need to get you up to speed with the NCEA change process. Jan and I had started working cross-party on this given the importance of our national qualification,” Stanford wrote, according to a screenshot provided.
“Would be good if we could meet first and I can run you through where we are at and what the process is. There is a policy advisory group of principals who are working on the details and you can have access to them when they meet as well as my officials and also NZQA.”
The minister said her office would get in touch with Prime’s “if that’s ok?”
An email sent from Stanford’s office to Prime’s two months later in May says there was no response to that text.
“Our office has not been able to identify any incoming correspondence from Hon Prime responding to the message,” said Stanford’s senior private secretary.
“Hon Stanford was grateful for the productive engagement with Hon Jan Tinetti on curriculum reform matters and would like to ensure cross-party engagement can continue.
“Our office would like to co-ordinate a meeting for education officials to brief Hon Prime on NCEA and other curriculum reform matters and respond to any questions she may have.”
In mid-June, the minister personally followed up with an email.
“I am eager to maintain cross-party collaboration on these crucial issues and would like to schedule a meeting for education officials to brief you and address any questions you may have,” Stanford said. “I look forward to your response and to continuing our joint efforts on education reform.”
After what appears to be no response, Stanford decided to go around the Labour education spokeswoman and contacted Labour’s leader.
“I’ve sought on multiple occasions to get input from your education spokesperson on NCEA curriculum reform, with no response,” Stanford wrote to Hipkins on July 1.
“It is important to have cross-party collaboration regarding a national qualification, and the offer remains open to arrange a briefing from officials or from the Professional Advisory Group.”
The next day, an adviser for Prime emailed Stanford: “I acknowledge your email regarding NCEA curriculum reform.
“Willow-Jean has considered your email and declines the invitation.”
But it appears there was a change of heart from Labour in late July.
On July 20, the Herald revealed an NZQA briefing warned Stanford that NCEA faced a credibility crisis because of “over-used flexibility”. That story also reported that Stanford was preparing an announcement on the future of the qualification.
Five days later, Prime sent Stanford a letter asking to meet “to discuss national primary and secondary education curricula and assessment”.
She listed seven questions she wanted to discuss with Stanford about matters such as how to best link curriculum and assessment, options to improve NCEA and how the sector had been involved in proposals.
On August 3, the day before the public announcement of the changes, Stanford responded to Prime’s letter, thanking her for her interest.
The minister outlined how she had reached out to her, her office and Hipkins on multiple occasions.
“I particularly sought your engagement on the curriculum and NCEA work programmes, both have progressed substantially since my initial message to you. Key decisions have now been taken to formulate proposals for consultation.
“These decisions have been informed by months of evidence-based advice and professional input from the Professional Advisory Group.”
Stanford said she initially received no response to her invitation and then Prime declined. Any opportunity to influence the direction of the proposal had now passed, the minister wrote.
“Work has continued and we are now ready for broader sector consultation. I am committed to working constructively, and I would like to arrange for you to receive an official briefing on the NCEA proposal and our curriculum work programme, as has been previously offered.”
She said she would be willing to meet with Prime to hear her feedback.
“As you will know, both the education sector and the public have expectations of cross-party collaboration with something as important as our national qualification which is why I reached out so many times.”
Further emails show Prime accepting the offer of a briefing and the respective offices attempting to find a date for this to happen.
Stanford told the Herald she was “glad” Labour had “recognised the significance of these proposals and the clear public mandate for us to work together”.
“It’s been really good to see positive comments from the Leader of the Opposition indicating that he is broadly supportive of the plan that’s been laid out.
“Of course, it will be disappointing for the public to see Willow-Jean Prime refused to engage earlier in the process, but I’m so pleased that this has now changed and I look forward to her engagement.”
Hipkins said on Wednesday the Government was “heading in broadly the right direction, but we need to see the detail of that”, while Prime has questioned the amount of time being provided to the education sector for consultation.
In comments to the Herald in July, Hipkins spoke of how he attempted to gain bipartisan support for reforms when he was Education Minister. He didn’t want issues around the qualification to become “unnecessarily political”.
He said the Labour Government consulted with the then-Opposition to ensure changes were “going to be enduring” and expressed a desire for the current Government to do the same.
Jamie Ensor is a political reporter in the NZ Herald press gallery team based at Parliament. He was previously a TV reporter and digital producer in the Newshub press gallery office. In 2025, he was a finalist for Political Journalist of the Year at the Voyager Media Awards.