59. Recently the Ministry of Education released its Special Education Update Action Plan. Under the Plan the Ministry of Education will lead a programme of work that will significantly redesign the system of education for students with additional learning needs. Locally led projects in communities around the country will be rolled out in 2016 to improve service delivery.44 Lessons learned from these projects will inform the redesign of the national service delivery model. 60. In May 2014 the Taskforce on Regulations Affecting School Performance reported to the Minister on how improved legislation and regulation could contribute to the goal of raising the achievement of all students. The Taskforce considered that the Education Act 1989 was out of date, did not reflect current practice and is no longer fit for purpose. The Ministry of Education is now reviewing the Education Act and in late 2015 undertook public consultation on the future of the Act. Participants were specifically asked to comment on the following 5 proposals:      making sure everyone knows the goals for education - What the goals for education should be, and how national priorities for learners aged 0-18 years could be set out; supporting school and kura boards to focus on what’s important - How the responsibilities of boards can be made clearer, unnecessary red tape can be removed, and boards can respond more effectively to lift student and school performance; enabling collaboration, flexibility and innovation - How resources can be better focused to get the best whole-of-community education outcomes; making every school and kura a great one - How a graduated range of responses could be developed to better support schools when difficulties arise; and making best use of local education provision - How local arrangements can support choice and diversity. 61. The Review of the Education Act presents an opportunity to clearly embed the right to education for all New Zealanders in the regulatory framework. 62. The Committee may wish to consider including the following questions in its LOIPR for New Zealand:    44 What concrete actions is the government taking to accelerate the narrowing of the gap in educational outcomes between Māori and Pacific, and other ethnicities? What future measures does the Government intend to take to achieve a fully inclusive education system, now that the Success for All programme has concluded? What steps has the government taken to ensure that the Special Education Update Action Plan is based on the principle of inclusive education? http://www.education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/specific-initiatives/special-education-update/ 16