Instead of a complete NCEA overhaul, could we better use education technology that already exists? Photo / File
Instead of a complete NCEA overhaul, could we better use education technology that already exists? Photo / File
THE FACTS:
The Government remains a long way from achieving its public service target of 80% of Year 8 students at or above curriculum level in reading, writing and maths by December 2030.
Only 8% of poorer students in Year 8 are at or above curriculum level in maths, while for Māori students it’s one in every 10 and for Pacific students it’s one in 16.
Less than a quarter of Year 8 students have a writing ability that meets the Government benchmark.
The latest education results are in, and they’re sobering. The Curriculum Insights and Progress Study results for 2024 show that over 60% of Year 8 students are more than a year behind in maths and writing.
The Government has responded with $2.5 billion in reforms in Budget2025, and more recently announced a complete overhaul of NCEA by 2030.
It’s natural that such statistics would precipitate an urgent response to make change. But two questions deserve serious consideration before investing so much money to make changes that will take another five years to be realised.
First, are we already utilising the technology we have available? Instead of a complete overhaul, could we better use education technology that already exists?
Second, do we have the right digital infrastructure to deliver these reforms?
Behind both of these questions comes knowledge hard earned from years of developing and implementing e-learning platforms.
I know first-hand that the infrastructure that sits behind the systems can often be left out of the discussion. Yet, if systems are rigid, slow or mismatched to local needs, they become a handbrake on change, not the platform for progress that they can and should be.
Education technology must be fit for purpose and built for the future. It is critical that teachers and tamariki alike can access tools that are cost effective, adaptable and centred on what works for New Zealand learners.
Don Christie, MD of Catalyst IT Limited. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Too often, the default is to build something shiny and new. However, with 60% of our Year 8 students behind, we can’t afford to wait years for new systems to be built from scratch. We need solutions that work now – and we already have them.
In 2004, Catalyst helped transition New Zealand’s entire polytechnic sector to online learning, serving over 240,000 students, using the existing open source platform Moodle.
New Zealand didn’t just adopt this technology – we helped shape it. Today, Moodle is one of the most widely used learning management systems in the world, supporting over 300 million users globally.
Since then, we’ve delivered solutions for education ministries and universities around the globe, including Monash University in Australia and Concordia University in Canada, to meet their various needs with huge success.
Right now, we’re working with NZ’s Ministry of Education on two new assessment tools – the Phonics Check and Hihira Weteoro – both scheduled to launch in 2026. We have also integrated systems that use AI to identify students at risk of disengaging for teachers to enable timely, personalised support. This is a concrete example of how technology can be used to make a difference in students’ lives.
The value doesn’t lie in technology for the sake of technology, but what it enables. By following a re-use first approach, we can rapidly innovate, reduce wasted spend and support digital sovereignty. We can respond quickly to policy changes and classroom realities, scaling nationally when needed, or tailoring tools to the needs of individual schools.
Other countries are already doing this well. In the state of Hessen, Germany, hundreds of secondary schools use Mahara, another NZ-built open-source platform, to track student progress toward graduation. It’s a shift away from one-size-fits-all systems, towards locally managed tools with national interoperability. And it’s delivering results.
Aotearoa NZ should not just be learning from such international examples, we should be leading. So why isn’t the conversation about how we can leverage existing technology more, especially when the need is urgent and the investment so significant?
I’m not suggesting that the only solution is Catalyst services - there are a number of options in market that the Government could adopt or extend, following the usual rigorous tender processes.
But this country is in the fortunate position of having both the systems and technical expertise to deliver scalable solutions right here. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel – we need to use the world-class wheels we’ve already built. With the right digital infrastructure in place, NZ has an opportunity to align technology with our teaching values, accelerate reform and ensure that every dollar spent delivers for tamariki.
Rather than punishing communities who continue to be failed by educational policies that don’t work for them, the right technology can be used to meet tamariki where they are on their learning journeys.
The choice is simple: we can spend years and billions building new systems from scratch — with no guarantee it will work — or we can leverage NZ’s world-leading education technology today.
Our kids can’t wait – and they shouldn’t have to.
Don Christie is the Managing Director of Catalyst IT Limited, an open source software company headquartered in Wellington.
