ABSTRACT
‘Investing in Educational Success’ (IES) was a policy announced in New Zealand in January 2014. It was announced by John Key, then Prime Minister of New Zealand’s National-led Coalition government, which has been in power since 2008. The clusters were intended to lift the quality of educational provision in New Zealand, would generally have a geographic focus and involved various new positions of teacher and principal leadership that would attract substantial additional salary. The IES highlights political pressures on the education sector and mixed responses amongst those in leadership positions in education. The IES has seen professional development for teachers and educational research strongly framed by the new Community of Learning in ways that are likely to increase private sector involvement in education. In education there have been various new steps towards privatisation such as public–private partnerships to build schools and the development of charter schools.
