The New Zealand Department of Education was, pre-1989, the public service department of the New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Government responsible for pre-tertiary education. Under the 1989 Tomorrow's Schools reforms, initiated in response to the Picot task force

Picot task force

The Picot task force was set up by the New Zealand government in July 1987 to review the school system. The members were Brian Picot, a businessman, Peter Ramsay, an associate professor of education at the University of Waikato, Margaret Rosemergy, a senior lecturer at the Wellington College of...

 report of May 1988, it was replaced by a decentralised Ministry of Education

Ministry of Education (New Zealand)

The Ministry of Education , is the primary state sector organisation of New Zealand responsible for New Zealand's education system...

.
Some of its functions were either immediately or over the course of the proceeding few years moved to separate agencies, such as Learning Media Limited (1992) and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority

New Zealand Qualifications Authority

The New Zealand Qualifications Authority is the New Zealand government crown entity tasked with providing leadership in assessment and qualifications....

(1993).