Massey University is putting its own financial needs ahead of the needs of the education sector following its decision to scrap all undergraduate teacher education.
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Massey University is putting its own financial needs ahead of the needs of the education sector following its decision to scrap all undergraduate teacher education.
 
The University has just announced that it is cutting its three-year Bachelor of Education Early Years degree and the four-year bachelor of Education Primary.
 
NZEI Te Riu Roa opposed the move last year when it was first discussed. The organisation's site representative at Massey University, Sarah Thomas says clearly the education sector has not been listened to.
 
"The university is doing what is best for itself, and is not acting in the best interests of the education sector or in the interests of quality education."
 
Ms Thomas says this will erode the choice and quality of teacher training. For many students, the best option is the full undergraduate study course. The only option now open to trainee teachers will be a one-year, graduate diploma.
 
"That simply does not suit everyone.  Some students don't respond well to the pressure-cooker one-year approach."
 
"It will mean students will be pushed through the training and out into the real world before they have gained enough experience to fully prepare them for the demands of the classroom situation and this will have a significant impact on teaching quality."
 
"We are not saying that one course is better than the other, simply that Massey will not be providing another option. And this must have an impact on the overall quality of teacher training."
 
Ms Thomas says the decision is based more on fiscal concerns than on teacher quality.
 
"The decision was made largely because of the Government's reduction in undergraduate funding and the need to secure Performance Based Research Funding."
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The NZEI Re Riu Roa says ensuring the delivery of quality education needs to be the priority in any reshaping of Christchurch's education sector.
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The NZEI Re Riu Roa says ensuring the delivery of quality education needs to be the priority in any reshaping of Christchurch's education sector.
 
National President, Ian Leckie says it’s imperative to keep children's education at the forefront of any changes to the way education is delivered in Christchurch.
 
Mr Leckie says the NZEI Re Riu Roa will be closely scrutinizing the Ministry of Education and Tertiary Education Commission report 'Directions for Education Renewal in Greater Christchurch' released today to ensure that those principles are being upheld.
 
He says fiscal and political considerations should not dominate over quality education.
 
"We want Canterbury children to have no disadvantage because of the earthquakes.  This is definitely not a time for radical experiments.  Instead it is an opportunity to invest wisely in education, building on the basis of what we know works best," he says.
 
"We also want to ensure that communities are able to continue to be actively involved in their local schools - something that has underpinned our education sector successfully for many years."
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling for better funding and support for early childhood education including a commitment to more qualified teachers and extending paid parental leave to six months.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling for better funding and support for early childhood education including a commitment to more qualified teachers and extending paid parental leave to six months.  

The global goal of ensuring all children get access to early childhood education is under the spotlight this week as part of Education International’s Global Campaign for Education Action week

NZEI National Executive member, Hayley Whitaker says the right of every New Zealand child to free quality early childhood education needs to be an underpinning principle of our education system.
 
"While Governments around the world are being asked promote investment in early childhood education, in New Zealand we are calling for a specific commitment to 100 percent qualified teachers in our kindergartens and early childhood services by 2016 as well as a specific set of targets for an improvement in the teacher-child ratio".

Specifically those targets are one fully qualified teacher for every eight children aged two and over by 2015 and by 2017, a 1:3 ratio for under twos.

"As a country, New Zealand is seriously under-investing in early childhood education," she says.  

"Early childhood education is central to ensuring young children's rights and is also a good investment for individual and national development," she says.

"We know that access to good quality early childhood education can break the cycle of inequity faced by many children and their families and can contribute to better health, higher educational achievements and greater success in life," she says.

"It is critical that next month’s Budget goes a significant way towards improving funding and helping to mitigate effects of its 2010 Budget where $400-million was slashed from this area."

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says smaller class sizes could provide a solution to what appears to be a teacher oversupply situation.
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NZEI says it is aware that teacher graduates are finding it difficult to find jobs and many schools say they are getting hundreds of applicants for one or two vacant positions.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says the oversupply could be turned into an opportunity to invest more in teaching and learning and give extra assistance to vulnerable and underachieving students.

“We know that for a long time there was a serious teacher shortage in this country and things have changed quite quickly.  The oversupply is not necessarily going to last and it’s important that these teachers are not lost to the profession long-term”.

“There has already been considerable investment in training teachers so it makes sense to use those extra teachers to lower student-teacher ratios and create smaller classes,” he says.  

In junior classes ratios have improved.  Effective teaching happens in smaller classes but in Years 4-8 ratios still stand at one teacher to 29 students which in effect can mean class sizes of 30 or more.   NZEI has long advocated that the teacher-student ratio should be lowered to 1:25.   

Mr Leckie says “I’d bet every school in the country would welcome another one or two teachers onto their staff because parents and teachers know that children’s learning improves with more teacher contact”.

“The Government talks about the need to improve the quality of teaching and achieve better student outcomes.  Here is an opportunity to do that by not only ensuring our trained teachers have jobs but also giving children more individual and valuable teaching time”.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is welcoming New Zealand-based research which clearly debunks government claims that charter schools will help disadvantaged students and raise achievement levels.
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As part of its coalition deal with the ACT Party, the government is setting up charter schools in south Auckland and Christchurch.  It says charter schools will help raise student achievement, especially in areas where it claims underachievement is entrenched.
 
The Education Policy Response Group – made up of 12 Massey University experts has been studying charter and free schools in Sweden, Britain and the United States.  It has concluded that charter schools can actually cause more harm to the students they are designed to help and damage local communities.
 
“This just proves that the government’s push to introduce charter schools is ideological and is not based on any hard evidence,” says NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter.
 
The Education Policy Response Group’s research shows that the only people who benefit from charter schools are a few highly motivated individuals and families.  For others, it says charter schools do not provide more choice, they often promote greater inequality for disadvantaged students, and they fail to eliminate underachievement.
 
Paul Goulter says New Zealanders need to keep asking why we need charter schools, and start demanding some real answers from the government.
 
“New Zealand students and schools do better than those in any of the countries where charter schools have been established.  We need to be asking why we want public money going into privately-run charter schools when the balance of overseas evidence so clearly shows they won’t add value or benefit New Zealand’s education system or local communities”.
 
“It’s refreshing to see some solid New Zealand based research coming out on charter schools but it’s a shame that all the thinking on New Zealand’s charter school experiment is being outsourced to a government-appointed Charter Schools Working Group, which is largely made up of people who have a vested interest in the idea,” Mr Goulter says.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says extending paid parental leave would be a meaningful way to invest in children and families, and government attempts to shut down debate on the issue is short-sighted.
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The government says it will veto a bill put forward by Labour MP Sue Moroney which proposes to increase paid parental leave from 14 weeks to 26.

NZEI says the bill is a sensible and long overdue measure to bring New Zealand families up to speed with those in most other OECD countries including Australia.  

The latest OECD data shows that New Zealand spent proportionately less than any other OECD country on parental leave in 2007 - only 5 percent of national income per person for each new baby, compared with an OECD average of 29.5 percent.

The financial cost of extending paid parental leave could also be offset by the resulting reduction in subsidies to early childhood education services.  

NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker says early childhood teachers strongly support parents being able to spend more time with their babies because they know how important it is for children to form strong bonds with their parents.  

“We know that the current limit of 14 weeks paid leave means that many families suffer financial stress, and feel they have no choice but to return to the workforce before they are ready to. They also then face the challenge of finding high quality, affordable care for their babies,” she says.

“I am sure most early childhood teachers would see supporting parents to stay home with young babies as more important than getting government subsidies when those parents have to rush back to work reluctantly for financial reasons”.

Extending paid parental leave would help give all New Zealand children a better start in life, which in turn improves their chances of educational success down the track.  It is supported by a wide range of child advocacy groups including the Families Commission and the Commissioner for Children in its 2011 report into childcare for under –twos.

Hayley Whitaker says “any government move to veto Sue Moroney’s bill is undemocratic and shutting down much-needed parliamentary and public debate on the issue is short-sighted in terms of investing in our children’s future”.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the Charter School Working Group needs to work in the public interest, not the vested interest
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the Charter School Working Group needs to work in the public interest, not the vested interest.
The government has announced the makeup of a working group setting up new charter schools and says it will consult with a wide range of people.

"So far we haven't seen a very transparent political agenda on charter schools and there has been very little detail about where these schools will be established and how they will be set up and run," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

"Given there is no real representation on the group from anyone who actually works at the chalk face of education, it is important that there is genuine consultation with schools, parents and those communities which will be affected".

He says "the public still hasn’t been told why New Zealand needs charter schools or how giving taxpayer money to business to run a school will actually make a difference to underachieving students".

Overseas experience shows that charter schools do nothing to raise educational achievement and can take money away from existing schools and undermine communities.  Even the government's own officials have advised that the success of charter schools overseas is mixed and they have not consistently led to significant increase in achievement among lower performing students.
Ian Leckie says the Charter School Working Group needs to be asking some key questions on behalf of the public, rather than interested parties or businesses.

"It's important to know how charter schools will be authorised and how accountable they will be in terms of student achievement and financial performance. We also need to know how compliant they will have to be with existing legislation, how critical it is to the government that for-profit private operators be involved, how student selection will work and how the view of parents and communities will be taken into account in governance models".

"However with the amount of scepticism and contested international evidence about the success of charter schools, perhaps the first question the Working Group should look at is why the New Zealand education system needs charter schools at all," he says.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says principals and teachers oppose performance pay linked to student achievement outcomes because evidence shows this has a negative impact on quality teaching and children's learning.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says principals and teachers oppose performance pay linked to student achievement outcomes because evidence shows this has a negative impact on quality teaching and children’s learning.

NZEI President Ian Leckie said performance pay for teachers overseas was generally linked to student test results because it was seen to be more "objective" than principal or Board appraisals.  However, recent US research [1] shows that judging teacher effectiveness based on gains in students' test scores resulted in one in three teachers being mis-identified. This was because of the large margin of error in test results and the wide variability in ability of students in any one class.

Performance pay systems resulted in teachers competing with each other, distorting learning by "teaching to the test" and putting test results ahead of a child's well-being and overall learning potential.

"Teaching is a job where people need to work together. Performance pay would result in competition between teachers that would be unhealthy for kids," Mr Leckie says.

"What we want is a pay system that keeps our best teachers in the class room and that recognises their skills, knowledge and expertise in a fair and professional way. We want to focus on recruiting the best teachers we can, keeping them learning throughout their careers, and making sure teaching is seen as a highly valued job."

"New Zealand teachers are always ambitious to do better, and relative to other western countries, we spend less on teachers and get more 'bang for our buck' with our world-leading student results in international surveys like PISA."

He said as with any profession, the pay system for teachers needed to be built in partnership with Government and communities with the primary aim of supporting high quality teaching and learning.

[1] Error Rates in Measuring Teacher and School Performance Based on Student Test Score Gains (National Council for Education and the Economy report, 2010, USA).

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is asking why Treasury is trying to call the shots in education and says it needs to stick to its knitting.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is asking why Treasury is trying to call the shots in education and says it needs to stick to its knitting.
Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf is singling out student achievement and teacher quality and performance as the key to the country's success.  He says what’s needed is more investment in teachers, better measures to reward them and more robust career progression.
He is also repeating earlier Treasury advice around increasing class sizes and student-teacher ratios in a bid to free up money in education.
NZEI is questioning what expertise Treasury has in trying to shape educational policy.
"It is well known and I think most people would agree that while teacher quality is very important, teacher quality alone cannot raise student achievement as Mr Makhlouf is arguing," says NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter.
There are a range of factors which affect student achievement.  New Zealand researcher John Hattie says a child's educational achievement is most closely linked to parental hopes and expectations.
"Treasury would be better to focus on economic solutions to child poverty and inequality.  It needs to be looking at how we can ensure children are well fed, well housed and well-clothed so that they are in a position to get the most out of their learning," Mr Goulter says.
NZEI says teachers want to be involved in making New Zealand's top performing system even better and ensuring that New Zealand has the highest quality teachers.
"To do that the government needs to listen and take advice from those at the chalkface about how best to build and maintain a quality teaching workforce and raise student achievement.  It would be disappointing to see Treasury being relied upon as the experts in education".
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Suggestions from the Minister of Social Development that babysitting clubs could be set up to look after the children of beneficiaries, show a complete disregard for young children and their families, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.
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Suggestions from the Minister of Social Development that babysitting clubs could be set up to look after the children of beneficiaries, show a complete disregard for young children and their families, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

A Cabinet paper from Paula Bennett suggests establishing babysitting networks as a way of helping beneficiaries with children back into work.  Ms Bennett also says that formal early childcare education is not always the best way for children to be looked after.

"Those attitudes belong back in the ark, along with the government's whole welfare reform agenda," says NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker.

There is strong evidence and it is widely accepted that quality early childhood education forms the foundation for all future learning and provides the essential social and developmental skills children need.

"That means environments where there are qualified teachers who are specialists in child development and early childhood education, good teacher-child ratios and small group sizes," Ms Whitaker says.

“Qualified teachers are also pivotal in helping children and families settle into childcare and reducing any stress they may face”.

Recent reports from the ECE Taskforce and the Children’s Commission have highlighted the importance of early childhood education, saying it is one of the most important investments that a country can make.

Hayley Whitaker says "to see the Social Development Minister advocating informal babysitting networks for children is disappointing to say the least.  It reflects an outdated attitude and completely disregards the needs of children and their families, not to mention the value of early childhood education".

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says International Women's Day is a good time to highlight the government’s shameful record on pay and employment equity.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says International Women's Day is a good time to highlight the government’s shameful record on pay and employment equity.

Latest figures show the gender pay gap has increased. The Quarterly Employment Survey figures show that the gender pay gap for the final quarter last year was 13%, an increase from 12.85% in the September quarter.

NZEI National Secretary Paul Goulter says that is clearly the result of the government's lack of commitment on pay and employment equity.

When it took office three years ago the government scrapped the pay and employment equity unit within the Department of Labour and halted further pay and employment investigations.

"It has also systematically ignored evidence of institutional pay inequity within education," Mr Goulter says.

A completed pay investigation involving around 800 Ministry of Education support workers who work with special needs children, found they are significantly underpaid when compared to male workers in other sectors who have similar skills levels and responsibilities.  

Other pay and employment equity investigations in education have also shown areas where women employees are not being treated fairly or are being discriminated against in terms of pay, career advancement and the value of their work.

Mr Goulter says "it’s frustrating that despite firm evidence of institutional gender discrimination, no action has been taken on these issues and women continue to be denied the opportunities they deserve".

NZEI continues to call on the government to show some real commitment to closing the gender pay gap, and ensure all women workers are treated fairly and equally.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says all schools and early childhood centres will be waiting with interest on the results of a ministerial inquiry into the employment of a convicted sex offender in education, to see if there are lessons to be learned.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says all schools and early childhood centres will be waiting with interest on the results of a ministerial inquiry into the employment of a convicted sex offender in education, to see if there are lessons to be learned.

The Education Minister has announced the inquiry after being told that a convicted sex offender had been arrested while working in education for allegedly breaching their conditions of release.

NZEI says it has not been informed about the case and has no details about the individual or what schools or communities they were working in.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says every step must be taken to ensure children are safe and for parents to have confidence in their schools and early childhood centres.

"There are robust processes in place around teacher registration and employment but it appears a serious breach of those may have occurred.  We need to know how to prevent it happening again and tighten up any loopholes which may have been exposed.  Hopefully that’s exactly what the ministerial review will deliver".

NZEI looks forward to being involved in the inquiry and seeing any recommendations that come out of it.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the latest OECD education report shows New Zealand has a top performing education system but warns government policies could be counter-productive to that success.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the latest OECD education report shows New Zealand has a top performing education system but warns government policies could be counter-productive to that success.

The ‘Does Money Buy Strong Performance in PISA’ report looks at the relationship between expenditure in education and results in PISA, across dozens of countries.  It singles out New Zealand by saying it is a top performer despite spending less than average per student.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says it is good to see the government welcoming this report and finally acknowledging New Zealand as a top performing system.

“But New Zealand teachers are always ambitious to do better, and with more resources we could lead the world.  This report shouldn’t be seen an excuse to stop making further investment in education or to justify cuts or money-saving measures, he says.

“We should step up investment in the areas that we know return the best investment - in early childhood education, where research shows there is a $17 return on every $1 spent, supporting quality teaching and keeping class sizes, especially for new entrants, as low as we can so that teachers can provide the individual feedback to children that is important for learning.

This report should not be used as an opportunity to adopt Treasury’s misguided advice about increasing class size in order to free up money in education or for further experiments with charter schools and league tables”.

The report stresses that top-performing countries in PISA do not group students in terms of ability or separate out poor performers.

“Unfortunately that is the road National Standards and charter schools risk taking us down,” says Mr Leckie.

“They encourage the labeling of children and can lead to segregated learning environments both in the classroom and within the wider community.  None of that equates to improved student achievement or teacher quality”.

NZEI says it is also significant that the OECD report strongly links high performing countries with greater investment in teachers and giving them greater professional status.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it's important to look beyond the headlines and see that the number of teachers who have been de-registered make up a very small percentage of the teaching workforce.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it's important to look beyond the headlines and see that the number of teachers who have been de-registered make up a very small percentage of the teaching workforce.
 
Figures from the Teachers Council show that in the past two years 50 teachers had their teaching licenses revoked for serious misconduct. 
 
Out of a teaching workforce of around 100,000, that represents about 25 teachers a year, which translates to just .025 percent.
 
NZEI President Ian Leckie says that sort of perspective is important.
 
"We see the headlines screaming that hundreds of teachers are unfit to teach, but it’s important to drill down into the figures and see how few are actually being struck off and put it within the broader picture".
 
Mr Leckie believes the figures also show that the disciplinary procedures for teachers are robust and there is a high degree of accountability. 
 
"It’s in everyone's interest to vet out anyone who should not be teaching because we want the highest quality teachers in front of our children. The public should be reassured to know that the percentage of teachers who fall into this category is so very low and that those who do pose a risk are being dealt with," he says.
 
More than a third of complaints made against teachers are also dismissed.
 
Ian Leckie says that highlights that as a profession, teachers can often be targeted by vexatious or unwarranted grievances.
 
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa hopes two new working groups on early childhood education will deliver a strong message to the government to restore funding levels and commit to a fully qualified teaching workforce.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa hopes two new working groups on early childhood education will deliver a strong message to the government to restore funding levels and commit to a fully qualified teaching workforce.

Following on from last year's ECE Taskforce report the government has announced the establishment of two working groups which will focus on improving the quality of early childhood education for young children.

NZEI says the evidence is clear about what factors contribute to quality in early childhood education but a lot has happened over the past three years to undermine that.

Millions of dollars of funding has been cut to more than 2,000 ECE services, the target for having 100% qualified teachers has been abandoned, professional development for early childhood teachers has been cut, and licensing requirements were changed pushing up the maximum centre size from 50 to 150 child places.

NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker says "those are all things which have worked to reduce quality early childhood education and should be at the top of the list for the advisory groups to address".

"Quality early childhood education means environments where there are 100% qualified teachers including for under-2s, good teacher-child ratios and small group sizes.  The ECE Taskforce recognised and identified this very clearly," she says.

Hayley Whitaker says "we also don’t want to see services which already have 100% qualified staff continue to be punished by cuts to their funding.  Those cuts only serve to push up the cost of early childhood education to families, and put up barriers to children's participation."

NZEI says there is a lot of experience and expertise on the advisory groups and it's good to see a cross sector approach being taken. It looks forward to seeing recommendations from the groups when they report back to the government in April.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says quality early childhood education and environments are what make the difference in mitigating stress for children in childcare.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says quality early childhood education and environments are what make the difference in mitigating stress for children in childcare.

The 'Who Cares' report from the conservative lobby group Family First claims spending long periods of time in childcare is detrimental for children and more should be done to encourage mothers to stay home.

The report overstates daycare stress on children but it does highlight the need for quality early childhood education services and better parental leave provisions.

NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker says "there's no doubt that children and families benefit from having as much time together as possible and parents often face a difficult decision about if, when and how they can return to work".

“New Zealand lags behind many other OECD countries in terms of its parental leave entitlements and we should be able to give parents more choice.  It's always good to see debate on the issue reignited".

Hayley Whitaker says quality early childhood education by a skilled and knowledgeable workforce is pivotal in helping children and families settle into childcare and reducing any stress they may face.

"That means environments where there are qualified teachers who are specialists in child development and early childhood education, good teacher-child ratios and small group sizes.  Unfortunately some of those indicators of quality early childhood education have been eroded by recent government policy," she says.

Over the past three years funding has been cut to more than 2,000 ECE services, the target for having 100% qualified teachers has been abandoned, professional development for early childhood teachers has been cut, and licensing requirements were changed pushing up the maximum centre size from 50 to 150 child places.

"Small children need consistency of care and education by qualified staff in warm, caring environments.  Ensuring children are in quality learning environments is critical in reducing any stress they may face," Ms Whitaker says.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the government to act urgently to help support families and struggling early childhood services in quake-affected areas of Christchurch.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the government to act urgently to help support families and struggling early childhood services in quake-affected areas of Christchurch. 

A just-released report to the Ministry of Education on the impact of the quakes on early childhood education in Christchurch East, shows enrolments are well down and participation rates, particularly among Māori and Pasifika children, have dropped significantly. 

It makes a raft of recommendations to help support and encourage attendance in the area. It says services should be able to offer some flexibility to families without financial loss, staff should be able to spend more time with affected and transitioning families, enrolments and population shifts should be carefully monitored, crown land could be made available for damaged centres to relocate, and the benefits of early childhood participation should be promoted in the community. 

"It is great to see early childhood education in Christchurch finally getting some attention and priority," says NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker. 

Since last year's February quake early childhood services, particularly community-based centres, have been facing huge financial difficulties. A survey last year showed 16 of the 18 ECE centres in quake-affected parts of the city experienced at least $700,000 in funding cuts due to roll drops. Those funding drops have meant job losses or pay cuts for staff and have seen centres reducing operating hours or facing closure. 

Hayley Whitaker says last year the government repeatedly ignored calls from NZEI and early childhood centres to guarantee pre-quake funding levels throughout the year to help give them some certainty. 

"It's critical for Christchurch's children and families that ECE centres have enough funding and support going into the future.  ECE centres play a big part in building and keeping community networks together and that's important in areas where communities have been damaged or dislocated."

"The situation is urgent and the Ministry needs to act on some of the positive recommendations in this report. It's vital that children can participate in early childhood education and everything must be done to make that as easy as possible for the families in and communities of east Christchurch," Ms Whitaker says.
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The education sector union says the government should take note of an Australian study which proves qualified teachers play a critical role in providing quality early childhood education.
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The education sector union says the government should take note of an Australian study which proves qualified teachers play a critical role in providing quality early childhood education.

The E4Kids study which is the Australia's first long-term investigation into the quality of pre-schools and childcare, has found that the standard of teaching in Australian preschools is very poor and many children are attending little more than a glorified playgroup.

In almost all Australian states there is no legislative or regulatory requirement to employ a qualified teacher in an early childhood centre, although a range of new minimum qualification requirements has just been introduced.

NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker says the study proves the correlation between poor standards and low numbers of qualified early childhood teachers.    
"We know that fully qualified teachers are what drive high standards and establish effective learning environments.  New Zealand is well ahead of where Australia is but the danger is that recent government policy is undermining that and taking us backwards," she says.

During the National-led government’s first term in office it axed the 100% fully qualified teacher target, slashed funding to services which have more than 80% qualified staff, cut grants supporting newly qualified teachers to get full registration and withdrawn professional development funding.

It also scrapped planned improvements to teacher ratios for two year olds and changed licensing rules which means services can now have up to 150 children in a centre.

"Much of the progress we have made is being eroded and we don’t want to be back in the position where Australia now finds itself.   Quality is not something which should be compromised at the most important learning stage of children’s lives," Ms Whitaker says.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says contrary to claims by the Education Minister, principals in south Auckland have no appetite for charter schools.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says contrary to claims by the Education Minister, principals in south Auckland have no appetite for charter schools.

Hekia Parata has said that principals and parents are queuing up for the first charter school, and that there is very high demand.

NZEI has spoken to 87 principals in south Auckland.  The vast majority have said they are either concerned or very concerned about the prospect of charter schools, while only four said they could see some benefit.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says they are concerned on a number of fronts.

"Firstly they are suspicious about the government's privatisation agenda for education, secondly they believe charter schools are unmandated coalition policy, and thirdly they feel that low decile communities are being unfairly targeted by government claims that charter schools are needed in areas where underachievement is entrenched."

"Some of these schools work harder than any others in the country to raise student achievement and there is no recognition of the effective programmes they already have in place. The problems of underachievement are complex and principals in south Auckland know that charter schools will do nothing to fix them".

Mr Leckie says it's important to remember that the people of south Auckland did not vote for charter schools and have not been asked whether they want to hand over their children's education to private business where there is limited accountability.

NZEI says there is clearly a disconnect between what the Minister is saying and what people and educators in south Auckland are feeling.

"Perhaps the Minister should release some more details about exactly what these schools will look like and talk to those communities which will be affected by what represents a major shift change to the foundations of our public education system," says Mr Leckie.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is hoping there will be opportunities to forge a strong and constructive working relationship with the new Education Minister.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is hoping there will be opportunities to forge a strong and constructive working relationship with the new Education Minister.

In the new cabinet line-up Hekia Parata takes over the education portfolio from Anne Tolley.

NZEI which represents more than 50,000 teachers, principals and education workers acknowledges that the past three years have been challenging.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says "we have seen a lot of policy and measures introduced such as National Standards and cuts to early childhood funding, which have definitely put a strain on the relationship between educational professionals and the government".

"We have a great education system which we want to see made into a truly excellent one.  To do that there must be a healthy and respectful relationship between the education sector and government".

NZEI believes there are many challenges ahead.

"Charter schools, fundamental problems with National Standards, raising Māori student achievement, the government's failure to commit to 100% qualified early childhood teachers, the future of education in Christchurch, more support for special needs students and recognising the professional work and value of school support staff are all issues which deserve full and open discussion," says Mr Leckie.

NZEI hopes the new minister will take on these challenges with an inclusive and constructive approach which values the voice of teachers, principals and communities.

It also wishes Anne Tolley well in her newly-appointed roles.

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