Derek Wenmoth: What the 2026 Education Environment Scan means for flexible and online learning

Presentation by Derek Wenmoth from FutureMakers on 'The convergence point: What the 2026 Education Environment Scan means for flexible and online learning' on 24 June 2026.

This webinar was organised by FLANZ https://flanz.org.nz

Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pcdfp8Wn7omvTrufq3SZ79VC3-gTGyTwEMeONqZPeDM/edit?usp=sharing

Transcript as PDF: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IzTLfVVTk1asYlFRRayCDYzFm488LIkk/view?usp=sharing

Abstract

The 2026 Education Environment Scan maps eight domains of change bearing down on education in Aotearoa. Its central argument is that these forces don't arrive one at a time. They converge, amplify one another, and demand responses that cut across traditional boundaries.

For those working in open, flexible, online, and distance education, much of this will feel familiar. Your sector has been navigating hybrid delivery, digital equity, and continuity of learning long before these became system-wide concerns. But familiarity is not the same as readiness. This session will explore what the convergence of AI disruption, climate-driven continuity, teacher workforce crisis, and shifting policy settings means specifically for this sector - where the opportunities are sharpest, the risks least visible, and your hard-won expertise most needed.

Because the scan's most urgent argument is this: the challenges ahead cannot be resolved within a single parliamentary term. The flexible learning sector - with its cross-institutional networks, evidence base, and track record of innovation under pressure - has a distinctive role to play in making the case for long-term commitment to the future of education in Aotearoa. This session is an invitation to that conversation.

The facilitator

Derek Wenmoth, Adv. Dip. Tchg, is the founder of FutureMakers which he established after stepping back from his position as Director, eLearning at CORE Education, a not-for-profit organisation providing professional learning, research and consultancy services across all parts of the education sector in New Zealand. Derek has been a teacher, principal, teacher educator, distance educator and education policy writer in a career spanning more than four decades. He helped establish the Virtual Learning Network in New Zealand in the mid 1990s, was the eLearning manager at Te Kura (New Zealand’s Correspondence School) where he oversaw the transition from correspondence to online activity, and was awarded a life membership of the Flexible Learning Association of New Zealand in 2016. He has been involved in providing strategic advice on flexible and online learning to the Commonwealth of Learning and departments of Education in a number of international contexts.

Resources

Derek on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-wenmoth-8907371

FutureMakers, Derek's website with a blog, thought pieces, and much more: https://www.futuremakers.nz

Education Environment Scan slides: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/the-2026-education-environment-scan-implications-for-flexible-and-online-learning-in-new-zealand/288213405

Education Environment scan download: https://futuremakers.nz/thought-pieces/environment-scan-2026

PESTLE framework: https://www.cipd.org/en/knowledge/factsheets/pestle-analysis-factsheet

Distance Learning Pulse (DL Pulse) of Aotearoa New Zealand, an initiative by Michael Barber and Derek Wenmoth in collaboration with FLANZ: https://flanz.org.nz/dl-pulse

DL Pulse presentation recording from 28 July 2024: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjBnC7PiPYo

Presentation by Amy Webb on her book 'The signals are talking': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JICXBu8Y4ak

Rosemary Hipkins book 'Lifelong learning for a post-truth world': https://www.nzcer.org.nz/nzcerpress/lifelong_learning

'Securing the Future of Online Networked Learning in New Zealand Schools' webinar: https://flanz.org.nz/2026/05/19/securing-the-future-of-online-networked-learning-in-new-zealand-schools

Report 'Enhancing Education Access in the New Zealand Schooling Sector Through Online Networked Learning' https://flanz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Enhancing-Education-Access-in-the-New-Zealand-Schooling-Sector-Through-Online-Networked-Learning.pdf

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FLANZ conference 'He Tāngata' - 7-9 October 2026 in Ōtepoti Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand. Proposal submission deadline: 16 August 2026