The foundation of NZEST was precipitated by the abolition of the New Zealand University Entrance Scholarship Examination, which had been in operation from 1874 -1989. John Graham and John Taylor had experience in running the Form 6 External Examination, a replacement for the abolished University Entrance Examination, and in 1990 ran a pilot Scholarship Examination. The following year NZEST ran scholarship examinations across 17 subjects, organised by the Executive Officer, Sarah Taylor. This examination programme ran for 13 years until 2004 when NZQA re-introduced the state scholarship examination, NZEST stopped running its examinations.
Scholarship winners and other high performances were recognised in NZEST Award Ceremonies, hosted throughout the country by Mayors of each community. From 1998, a national Award Ceremony was held in Wellington, usually attended by the Minister of Education.
To fund the scholarship programme, the Trustees commenced an ambitious fundraising plan. With the leadership of Sir Douglas Myers, by February 1993, 10 corporates had contributed generously to the NZEST Trust Fund.
Income from the NZEST trust funds has enabled NZEST to continue to support programmes aligned with its objectives. These included:
- Scholarship awards to students studying at a NZ university (2004-2011);
- Research into the quality of teaching and leadership, undertaken with the New Zealand Institute and John Morris, with reports published by the NZ Institute (2012-2014); and
- Annual support for a graduate enrolled in the Teach First NZ teacher training course (2015-2019).
From 2018, the trustees have run a leadership workshop to assist aspiring principals make the transition to leadership of a secondary school. In memory of Sir John Graham’s distinguished leadership in education, the trustees designated the workshop the Sir John Graham Emerging Leaders Forum. With the support of the Woolf Fisher Trust, this is the flagship event for NZEST.
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