The secondary teachers union fears a video that shows an education official seemingly trying to "subvert" the Official Information Act is part of a wider problem with secrecy around the government's curriculum rewrite.

The head of the Education Ministry is investigating the case after leaked footage given to the NZ Herald showed senior official Catherine Law telling staff not to put information shared with the Minister's office in writing and reminding them it was "OIA-able" - referencing the Official Information Act.

"What we do not need is anything in response in writing that shows that this stuff has gone backwards and forwards between them and us," she said.

"It's just really important. As far as anyone's concerned it's just feedback from me."

Law was seconded from her role as principal of Avonside Girls' High School to lead work on the secondary school curriculum.

Post Primary Teachers Association president Chris Abercrombie told RNZ the video raised significant concerns and the union believed there was a widespread problem.

"It confirms rumours we've been hearing that there's this real push to not have things written down, to be really opaque about what's occurring in the curriculum.

"I don't think this one individual just decided off their own bat that this was something they were going to talk about. I think this is really clearly a government trying to work in secret on the curriculum and you tie this in with the heavy use of non-disclosure agreements, the significant sort of pushing out of individual voices - this is a real concern."

Abercrombie said the development of a school curriculum should be transparent.

"If there's anything in this country that should be done publicly, it's our national curriculum," he said.

"There should be no secrets about this and it should be clear who's involved, why they're involved, and the process behind it."

Abercrombie said knowing the debates and thinking that shaped curriculums was vital.

"Curriculums just don't appear out of thin air. It's a process, it's an understanding. What was left out? What was not put in? What was the discussion about?" he said.

"Those discussions are just as important as the finished document... Every single thing in a curriculum is that someone made a decision. So who made that decision? Was it teachers? Was it ministry officials? Or was it someone in the minister's office that has no accountability?"
Abercrombie said the union would raise the issue at its next meeting with the ministry.

The government's curriculum rewrite has been dogged by criticism and controversy.

Groups representing teachers of various school subjects criticised the process for writing the curriculums and the resulting documents

The Waitangi Tribunal said last week the rewrite was ideological, aided by people hostile to Māori knowledge, and breached multiple Treaty principles.

 

'We take our obligations extremely seriously' - Stanford

 

Speaking to media on Tuesday, Erica Stanford said she was confident her Secretary of Education had the situation "in hand".

"She's already talked to the Public Service Commission, she's already talked to the Ombudsman and she's already looking into the matter and taking it very seriously, as I expect that she would do."

Stanford denied instructing officials to subvert the OIA process.

"We take our obligations extremely seriously, and, as I said, this is a matter for the Secretary of Education and her staff.

"My political staff and I have not seen the documents that she was talking about."

Asked if there was a culture where officials were trying to hide information so they did not embarrass her, Stanford said she hoped "that's not the case".

"I've always made sure that the Secretary of Education understands that we are abiding by the Official Information Act, and I've made that clear again yesterday."

Labour leader and former education minister Chris Hipkins said circumventing transparency laws was "inexcusable".

"Ultimately, ministers sign off the curriculum so there's there's nothing that should be secret here.

"There should be a transparent process around that, and trying to circumvent that so that you can make edits to the curriculum without anybody knowing that's what you're doing seems bizarre, secretive, and just inexcusable.”

Hipkins said he had not experienced a culture of hiding information to avoid the OIA process.