Exciting future for School Journal and other resources

Education Minister Hekia Parata says she is very pleased that a New Zealand-owned provider has been confirmed by the Ministry of Education to take on the publication of the iconic School Journal and the Ready to Read series.

The new provider, Lift Education, will take over this work from Learning Media Limited, supported in the digital space by CORE Education and Chrometoaster – two other New Zealand providers.

“The Ministry has run a very robust process seeking quality, reliability, and the authentic Kiwi voice so essential to these publications,” Ms Parata says.

“They have made a commitment to continuing to develop world class resources using the best local authors and designers, providing an environment where our children can read and learn about things that are distinctly New Zealand.

“Lift Education will ensure this unique perspective is continued and the quality of these publications is maintained. It plans to mentor writers and illustrators, and encourage emerging New Zealand talent, which means an exciting future for these publications and our local artists.

“CORE Education has a very strong understanding of the work needed, has the capacity to carry it forward and the commitment to both English and Māori medium. It has a clearly defined quality assurance framework and is already thinking how they can further improve the service.”

Ms Parata says a robust procurement process was followed to ensure all the things important to schools and children were included in the panel’s evaluation and decision making.

“The providers we’ve chosen are New Zealand companies that have a proven track-record in education. All the responses were high quality and strong proposals in their own right.

“We’re confident the selected providers will develop and improve the resources to ensure their continued relevance to the sector and children, and they are very conscious of the high expectations that New Zealanders hold. “

Chrometoaster will provide technical support and design to Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) website, the Ministry’s online knowledge basket and bilingual education portal, and ensure its services continue and evolve in conjunction with CORE Education.

Huia Publishers, with a well-respected and well established track record in this space, will take over the contract for Maori medium publications.

“This Government understands what is important to school communities, including parents and children. We want five out of five young people having a great education and securing the qualifications and skills they need to be successful.

“This means, being good stewards of the resources that will be a part of making this success happen for them. The users of these resources can be confident of the high quality continuing, for which they are well known.”

Ms Parata says she is also very pleased the skills and expertise of many of the Learning Media staff are being retained within the sector, either through work with the new providers or with the Ministry of Education, or the wider public service.