Monday, 1 September 2025
Chair
Brent Lewis, Former Principal, Avondale College
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how key human rights laws apply to school obligations toward both staff and students
- Learn strategies for balancing freedom of expression, freedom from discrimination, and the legal duty to ensure emotional safety in schools
*Original Content was created in September 2024
Description
Attend and earn 0.5 PLD hour
* This interactive online recording includes questions and quizzes requiring critical thinking about the topics, so you have no annual limits to the number of points/hours you can claim with this format of learning. Please verify with your CPD rules
How Schools Should Balance Competing Human Rights Obligations to their Staff and Students
Creating a diverse, inclusive, and emotionally safe educational environment is increasingly important for all New Zealand schools. Fundamental human rights and freedoms in New Zealand are protected by the Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993, with additional guidance from the Education and Training Act. The Bill of Rights Act affirms rights such as freedom of expression, thought, religion, and protection from discrimination. Join for a detailed presentation as you consider:
- Examples of how schools can seek to uphold the provision of a diverse, inclusive and safe educational environment for all staff and students
- The application of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and the Human Rights Act to State integrated schools, particularly with a focus on freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination
- How section 127 of the Education and Training Act, which (among other things) obliges school board’s to ensure that the school is an emotionally safe place for all students, is being interpreted and applied
Presented by Kris Morrison, Partnership Chair, Parry Field Lawyers
Presenters
Brent Lewis, Former Principal, Avondale CollegeBrent Lewis has led three secondary schools and is the former Principal of Avondale (a secondary School of over 2,800 students and 240 staff). Brent has both an MA and MBA and uniquely has been the chair of both the Wellington and Auckland principals associations, Avondale College has high success rates in both NCEA and Cambridge pathways with students consistently topping NZ and the world in various subjects, Currently the college has former students at Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and Amherst; all on scholarship., Avondale College is now the highest provider of IT industry certifications in Microsoft, Adobe, and Autodesk in New Zealand and Avondale students have made up all of the national representatives to the Microsoft Global championships for three years in succession..8 students winning top ten finishes against annual fields of 1 million., The college now has its own data centre and leading edge network and most recently Brent has been engaging with international and domestic strategic partners on the Colleges new Innovation Programme which is being trialled with other schools as a not-for- profit initiative.
Kris Morrison, Partnership Chair, Parry Field Lawyers
Kris is a lawyer and is the board chair at Parry Field Lawyers. He joined Parry Field in 2002 and leads our corporate and technology, and regularly advises on business structuring, acquisitions, intellectual property ownership and licensing, software agreements, services agreements and joint venture agreements, as well as solvency issues affecting business operations. Kris acts for a number of not for profits, charities and social enterprises, assisting with a range of issues including property matters, drafting of constitutions, trust deeds and operational rules, incorporation, charitable registration and schedule 32 applications. He also represents a number of schools and has particular expertise in the framework that governs state integrated schools in New Zealand. Kris is a director of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand and was previously a board member of Digital Future Aotearoa, chair of the Christian Education Network in Christchurch and the presiding member of the Emmanuel Christian School Board.
