Consultation on proposal to replace NCEA - NZOIA Submission 8 Sept 2025

Tēnā koutou,

I make this submission on behalf of the NZ Outdoor Instructors Association (NZOIA) to express our concern about the potential removal of Outdoor Education from the senior curriculum subject list.  NZOIA has 1,400 members throughout the motu who are instructors or guides in the outdoors. Over 80% work with rangatahi, of which many are secondary school teachers whose livelihood is directly impacted by this decision.

Positive benefits of School Outdoor Education to NZ

The outdoors is a big part of the core fabric of NZ as a country, our culture, our society, and our history.  This is especially so in terms of te ao Māori.  NZ is seen around the world as one of the great outdoors places to visit, and NZ has been held up on the world stage as a beacon for conservation, environmental protection, and scenic beauty.  That has a huge impact in terms of where NZ sits as a country in the world, as well as bringing in billions of dollars to NZ every year in tourism.  Having our rangatahi at NZ schools appropriately introduced, immersed, and aligned to our NZ outdoors and engaging in outdoors activity as they are growing up at school is critical to maintaining these links to tourism and conservation, and to maintaining this vital part of our NZ culture and society.

As well as the positive impact of our outdoors environments with the rest of the world, our NZ outdoors also play a critically positive role directly for the health, well-being, and development of our NZ rangatahi.  The evidence from government research shows very clearly the powerful positive influence that outdoors activity has on the overall health and well-being of our NZ rangatahi.  The reason outdoor education is so successful as a subject is because it has high student engagement through its holistic delivery and real world lessons.  The evidence now available shows clearly that active, experiential education, especially Outdoor Education, boosts focus, memory, and problem-solving, lifting achievement across maths, reading, and writing.  This needs to be emphasised and reinforced at school level.  As well as these direct positive effects on our rangatahi, there are significant career pathways and community volunteer pathways into conservation, environment, and outdoors activities that develop through an introduction to Outdoor Education at school.

Outdoor Education has a proven track record of positive benefits socially, mentally, physically and academically. Many Outdoor Education students go on to university and flourish, crediting outdoor education for giving them the resilience, perseverance, and leadership to excel. These students would lose the opportunity to take Outdoor Education at school alongside academic subjects should Outdoor Education be removed from the curriculum.

What could happen if Outdoor Education is lost from the senior subject list?

Outdoor Education has seen huge growth in schools and is rapidly increasing in popularity.  But if Outdoor Education were to drop off the senior subject list there is a great danger that Outdoor Education could become largely lost from school activity.  NZOIA has put hundreds of school teachers through the NZOIA qualification process for Outdoor Instructors.  This helps to ensure that these teachers can provide outdoor experiences for their students in a safe way, and in a positive and enriching way.  This is so important both in terms of giving the students positive and potentially life changing experiences, but also in safeguarding the students and the school from potentially dangerous and harmful outdoor incidents, or worse.  Many schools are already very stretched on finances and people resources, and it is already challenging for them to be able to provide the time and cost for getting their teachers suitably trained and qualified for outdoors activities.  If Outdoor Education were to drop off the senior subject list then there is a very great danger that schools just would not be able to prioritise the resources required to maintain Outdoor Education as a viable activity. 

There will also be a loss of academic recognition for Outdoor Education which will likely negatively impact the viability of Outdoor Education continuing to be a school activity.

If Outdoor Education ceases to be a major activity at schools, with a loss of suitable academic recognition, then the workforce pipeline will be cut for young New Zealanders progressing into paid and volunteer roles around conservation, the environment, and the outdoors.  That will have a major detrimental effect on NZ as a country in the long term, as well as denying all these youngsters such positive benefits, life skills, and experiences.

Recommendations from NZOIA

For the reasons outlined above, NZOIA makes the following recommendations to the Ministry of Education:

1. We strongly recommend that Outdoor Education be retained on the list of senior subjects for schools.
2. Outdoor Education curriculum and assessments should be developed by the Ministry of Education.
3. The value of Outdoor Education to the students, to the local/regional community, and to the country as a whole should be appropriately recognised.  The huge cultural importance to te ao Māori also needs to be recognised and given due consideration.
4. Schools should receive resourcing support for Outdoor Education at a level that reflects its huge importance.

The outdoors, conservation, and the environment are a critically important part of New Zealand’s culture, society, and history.  We strongly believe that the Ministry of Education should ensure that the outdoors and Outdoor Education maintains its rightful and critically important place for our country and our schools.        

Ngā mihi,

Peter Drew

Chief Executive

New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association

Media Release - 24 October 2024

Bold Outdoors Partnership between Scouts Aotearoa and NZOIA

Ensuring safety in the New Zealand outdoors with groups of rangatahi and tamariki is increasingly becoming a high priority for schools, community organisations, and commercial enterprises.

Enabling enriching and safe outdoors experiences is the NZ Outdoor Instructors Association (NZOIA) mission statement, and with those outcomes firmly in mind, Scouts Aotearoa have made bold plans to work in close partnership with NZOIA to bring that to reality for their 13,000 young Scouts.

NZOIA are the industry leaders in New Zealand for high quality outdoor qualifications and excellence in outdoor leadership.  Scouts Aotearoa have 90 of their current Scout Leaders who are already on their way through an official training and qualification pathway with NZOIA to help provide great outdoors experiences for their Scouts.  As part of their long-term plans, Scouts Aotearoa are working closely with NZOIA to increase this number and have as many of their Scout Leaders as possible being NZOIA qualified.  The plan is to develop a pool of NZOIA instructors and Assessors within Scouts Aotearoa so that they can become self-sufficient in performing their own internal and moderated NZOIA qualification assessment processes, enabling them to develop a very large number of NZOIA qualified Scout Leaders.

Scouts Aotearoa Chief Executive, Chris Wilson, is excited about the positive potential of this direction and the positive benefits it can bring to Scouts Aotearoa, saying that “Scouts Aotearoa are all about positive youth development and empowering our young people to enjoy new adventures and experience the outdoors.  It is critical for us to have the best possible outdoor leaders for this to be done in the best way, and most importantly, for it to be done as safely as possible.  By having as many NZOIA qualified leaders as possible really helps us with that mission and it’s great to be working alongside NZOIA on that”.

Another at Scouts Aotearoa had this to say, “The NZOIA qualification framework enables Scouts Aotearoa the unique opportunity to deliver a personal development pathway for our Kaiārahi (adult volunteer) that extends beyond the Scouting environment.  The ability to gain qualifications that individuals can use in their everyday lives as well as within the scouting environment – an opportunity especially relevant to our young Kaiārahi who have concluded their youth member journey.”

And, “NZOIA offers an exciting opportunity for Scouts Aotearoa to continue to deliver on our ‘adventure plus’ promise to young people.”

NZOIA Chief Executive, Peter Drew, was also very positive about these plans, stating that, “It’s so great to see an organisation like Scouts Aotearoa taking such a positive approach to its outdoor leadership strategies.  Our beautiful New Zealand outdoors provide such a great opportunity for our NZ rangatahi and tamariki to achieve positive experiences for getting them physically active, and more importantly, for their positive personal development and well-being, and for their Whakawhanaungatanga and Manaakitanga.  Scouts Aotearoa are really showing the way with regards their commitment to high quality outdoor leadership and we are delighted to work alongside them and support them with this”. 

Both NZOIA and Scouts Aotearoa are supported by Sport NZ as leaders in the Active Recreation sector.