Get Action! Stop the Government taking away Outdoor Education w/ Fiona McDonald from Education Outdoors New Zealand: 10 September, 2025

Towards the end of August, secondary school outdoor education teachers were told that the course would be removed from the Education Ministry's general subject list as part of the government’s proposed replacement of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).

As a result of being excluded from the list of general subjects, outdoor education, which provides direct training and pathways for students looking to enter conservation, environmental science and outdoor tourism careers, would be included in the list of vocational subjects, meaning that the course curriculum would be designed by the Industry Skills Boards instead of the Ministry of Education, stripping schools of the flexibility in designing the curriculum and removing pathways to higher education for students.

For this week’s Get Action! Wednesday Wire host Oto spoke with Fiona McDonald from Education Outdoors New Zealand to discuss a petition of hers calling on the ministry of education to keep outdoor education in the list of secondary school general subjects.

If you’d like to sign this petition, you can find it here: