Education Minister Chris Hipkins says he's open to meeting a group of 50 principals who are challenging the Government's NCEA review.
The group published a full-page newspaper ad on Sunday that branded his review a "fail", but Mr Hipkins says the group had not asked to meet with him prior to the ad.
"I have been very clear that I'm open to engagement," he said in Parliament on Tuesday. "I already had, prior to the weekend, meetings scheduled with the Secondary Principals Association, where over 100 school principals will be in attendance.
"I have also... as a result of the request over the weekend, set aside time - Friday two weeks from now - to meet with any secondary principals from Auckland who wish to meet with me. That's an open invitation, and I'm more than happy to engage with any of them."
National education spokesperson Nikki Kaye called for the minister to extend the timeline of the four-month review, which is due to close on September 16.
Mr Hipkins said there were still two-and-a-half months left of the consultation process, so it was too early to consider whether it was necessary to extend it.
Ms Kaye also questioned why the minister had labelled some school principals as having "traditional views" and was "dismissing their views because they're traditional".
He said that was a factual explanation and there was nothing wrong with being traditional, and traditional voices needed to be heard in the process as well as other voices.
Newshub.
