Teachers and doctors are losing the ability to self-regulate. What are the risks?

Until recently, New Zealand legislation has recognised teachers, doctors and nurses as self-regulating professionals. But several recent law changes will change all that.

The new laws will allow the

direct imposition of government priorities on professional standards and the nature of professional activity for teachers, doctors and nurses.

We argue the government’s moves undermine the independence of these critical service providers and, potentially, the quality of those services.

Until now, professional councils have been legally responsible for setting standards and certification processes, developing codes of conduct and regulating members of the profession.

This has meant government ministers have had limited authority to appoint or revoke the appointment of people to roles responsible for quality assurance or governance. But the latest law changes will effectively give ministers greater control of professional practice.

What is changing

The Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Act, passed last month, moves standards setting for initial teacher education (before trainees enter the profession) to the Ministry of Education.

Among other things, it makes the education minister responsible for appointing all members of the Teaching Council.

Under the new legislation, only three of the seven to nine appointees are required to have educational experience (five years minimum), and the threshold for removing appointed council members is at the minister’s discretion.

The Teaching Council will now function as a Crown regulator rather than a self-regulating professional body.

Education Minister Erica Stanford says the changes are based on “the latest evidence” about strengthening the teaching profession, including:

the need to strengthen the confidence and readiness of our new teachers, as well as recent findings that show the need for a professional regulatory body that has a clear focus on protecting child safety and quality assuring teaching practice.

However, some of the evidence cited in the regulatory impact statement for changes to the teacher regulation model has itself been criticised for its methodology.

In a review published recently in the New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, former Chief Education Scientific Advisor, Professor Stuart McNaughton, discussed “the risks of simplism” in overly prescriptive education models, which obscure “the complexity of teaching, learning and education”.

McNaughton argued that the application of simplism to policy and practice risks “maintaining or even increasing inequitable outcomes […] limiting what is learned; and de-professionalising the role of teachers”.

But with initial teacher education, professional standards-setting, curriculum oversight and the makeup of the Teachers Council now sitting directly under the minister, control over what teachers teach and how they teach it has shifted dramatically.

Similar changes in health

In the case of medicine, Minister of Health Simeon Brown has accused the doctors’ regulatory authority, the Medical Council of New Zealand, of having an “ideological agenda” in carrying out its statutory duty to protect public safety.

Replacing its chair and deputy chair, Brown specifically criticised the council’s position on cultural competence and safety training, which aims to help clinicians guard against bias, intentional or not.

Brown earlier changed the composition of the Nursing Council, reducing the number of nurses and Māori representatives on the board.

Both clinical safety and cultural safety have long been regarded as essential for high quality healthcare. Cultural competency training is now central to evidence-based care and has been credited with saving lives.

But the minister is now planning sweeping changes to the legislation that governs health professional regulation and practice to make it more responsive to government priorities.

The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Amendment Bill aims to “align health workforce regulation with patient needs […] and government priorities”.

Unintended consequences

Removing arms-length oversight of important professions poses financial risks if governments introduce and remove professional mandates in each election cycle.

It also risks worsening workforce shortages if it devalues professional expertise. Staff who feel ethically compromised or overwhelmed by mandated requirements may choose to leave the profession or look for work offshore.

Finally, too much government control over professions, and expectations of obedience by education and healthcare workers, weakens the public advocacy role of these professions.

It potentially has a chilling effect on the essential need for whistle blowers in education and healthcare. These things are crucial to a functioning democracy.

Politicians rarely come to their portfolios with a high level of expertise in the areas they lead. The assumption that increased ministerial control will improve outcomes in health and education demands greater scrutiny.

Vivienne Anderson currently receives unrelated contract funding from the Ministry of Business Immigration and Employment and has previously received research funding from the Ministry of Education. Vivienne is a registered teacher with a current practising certificate.

Gabrielle McDonald was employed by the Ministry of Health in the past and has received contracts from the Health Quality & Safety Commission, the NZ Blood Foundation and the Mental Health Foundation. Gabrielle is primarily employed by the University of Otago, but also by Health NZ Te Whatu Ora. She is co-writing this article solely as an independent academic. She is a registered medical practitioner with the Medical Council of New Zealand and a fellow of the NZ College of Public Health Medicine.

Peter Crampton receives research funding from the Ministry of Health and has in the past received research funding from the Health Research Council of New Zealand. He is a member of the statutory Public Health Advisory Committee. He is a medical practitioner registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand, a fellow of the NZ College of Public Health Medicine and an honorary fellow of the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners.