The Education Minister has admitted she made mistakes in her portfolio last year, but says she will concentrate on not repeating them in 2013.
Hekia Parata survived a Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, after a string of damaging controversies last year.
Hekia Parata. Photo: NATIONAL PARTY
They included a backdown on increasing school class sizes, ongoing problems with new payroll system Novopay, and the proposal to close or merge several Christchurch schools.
However, Ms Parata was reluctant on Thursday to go into any more details when asked by reporters specifically what mistakes she had made.
"It's not my role to critique what happened - I mean all of you can and have been doing that. I've got a couple of lessons that I'm taking forward and I'm facing 2013 excited about how I can continue work in the education area."
Ms Parata says she has the confidence of Prime Minister John Key and clear expectations from him, which she says she intends to meet.
In the Cabinet reshuffle, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce was put in charge of sorting the Novopay problems out as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, Hekia Parata has again refused to comment on the sudden departure of the Education Ministry's chief executive in December last year.
Lesley Longstone's resignation was attributed in part to problems with her relationship with Ms Parata.
When asked what went wrong in the relationship with Ms Longstone, Ms Parata on Thursday would only say it was an employment matter that should be taken up with the State Services Commissioner.
The minister says she has acknowledged the service Mrs Longstone offered and wishes her well.
