The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says education should not be used as a cash cow and the government would be mad to accept Treasury's latest advice.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says education should not be used as a cash cow and the government would be mad to accept Treasury's latest advice.

In its briefing to the incoming government Treasury has suggested radical reform to free up money, including increasing class sizes and student-teacher ratios and closing down schools.

"This type of reform would be a huge step backwards for our education system and I don't think schools, parents or communities would be willing to accept it.  It is ill-advised advice," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

"Parents and schools fought long and hard to lower class sizes and student ratios in recent years particularly in the junior classes, and they would not want to see all that good work undone."

"It's disappointing to hear the Finance Minister say class size doesn't matter when parents and teachers, who see what happens in classrooms everyday, know that children get more out of teaching and learning when they are in smaller groups and can get more one-on-one attention".

"Having bigger classes would also do nothing to improve teacher quality," he says.

Closing down schools would hit communities hard, particularly if there was no educational benefit in doing so.

"Closing a school down impacts heavily on students and families and shouldn't affect a child's right to attend their local school.  Treasury's proposal is purely a money-making scheme for a wholesale sell-off of valuable school property and land which would come at the expense of local communities," Mr Leckie says.

"Surely education should not be a cash-cow for the government.  If Treasury really wanted to free up money in education and improve teacher quality it would reinstate the teacher professional development that the government has taken away and stop wasting tens of millions of dollars on National Standards".

NZEI says worryingly the Ministry of Education's briefing to the new Minister also signals school closures as well as the erosion of school board control over property.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the new Education Minister to guarantee the Government's decision to establish official league tables of secondary schools will not be extended to primary schools.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the new Education Minister to guarantee the Government's decision to establish official league tables of secondary schools will not be extended to primary schools.

When then-Minister Anne Tolley introduced controversial National Standards into primary schools in 2010, she pledged that the Government would not publish league tables.   

Following a visit to Australia, the new Minister Hekia Parata has said the government is considering establishing a new website to compare the performance of secondary schools and she is open to parents being able to rate the performance of schools and teachers.

"That’s a very different position and is disappointing given Anne Tolley's earlier comments," says NZEI President Ian Leckie. "International experience shows that league tables unfairly and inaccurately label children, schools and their communities and do nothing to improve student achievement.  We would sincerely hope and want guarantees that there are no such plans to extend such a system to primary schools - certainly not one which is based on unreliable National Standards information".

Secondary school NCEA results are nationally moderated and parents and schools have a clearer understanding of what they mean.

"The issue for primary schools is that National Standards aren't moderated and there is huge variation in the way schools are implementing them.  It would be a case of junk information in and junk information out.  Officially publishing that information on a government-sponsored website would be misleading for parents and potentially damaging for school communities."

"Schools want to be held accountable but that accountability cannot be based on a measure which is neither fair nor accurate, and is very narrowly focused."

NZEI would welcome the opportunity to meet with Ms Parata to outline its concerns and seek guarantees that student achievement data based on National Standards will not end up on an official website aimed at comparing school performance.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government is stacking the charter school deck while keeping the public in the dark about how charter schools will work in New Zealand and how they will actually make a difference to student achievement.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government is stacking the charter school deck while keeping the public in the dark about how charter schools will work in New Zealand and how they will actually make a difference to student achievement.

The Associate Education Minister and sole ACT MP John Banks has said the first charter school will be up and running in south Auckland by the end of the first school term and he has appointed  former ACT Party President Catherine Isaacs to oversee the charter school implementation group.

"Once again we are seeing a total lack of transparency in this whole process and an agenda driven by politics and business rather than education and children," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

"Firstly the government and ACT completely blindsided the public by announcing charter schools as part of their coalition deal, and now it is moving to unfairly stack the deck of the committee set up to establish them."

"The charter school agenda was clearly more advanced than the government cares to admit," he says.

Despite the speed at which the government is moving on charter schools, the public and communities where these schools will be established, have seen absolutely no details on how they will be set up and run.

"We are not being told why and how these schools will make a difference to underachieving kids.  Exactly what will a charter school do that is different and how does giving taxpayer money to business to run a school improve student achievement?  These are all questions the government is failing to give New Zealander the answers to," says Mr Leckie.

New Zealand students and schools do better than those in any of the countries where charter schools have been established.  The balance of overseas experience shows that charter schools do nothing to raise educational achievement and can take money away from existing schools and undermine communities.

NZEI believes the children who are missing out on educational success the most are facing the combined hurdles of poor health, bad housing, troubled families and poverty.  These aren't problems schools can fix on their own, and they certainly aren't problems that charter schools can fix.  

NZEI continues to call for any move to establish charter schools to go through a parliamentary select committee process so the public and educators can make submissions and see the issues fairly debated.
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With the new school year about to begin, the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is repeating its call for the government to move to protect centralised 'National Standards' information from being drawn up into damaging league tables.
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With the new school year about to begin, the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is repeating its call for the government to move to protect centralised 'National Standards' information from being drawn up into damaging league tables.

All schools must submit their student achievement data based on 'National Standards' to the Education Ministry by 31 May.

NZEI says schools are deeply concerned that the information will be made public and aggregated into crude league tables that will unfairly label students, schools and their communities.

"It’s a top-of-mind issue and worry for principals, teachers and school as we go into the 2012 school year," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

"They know that 'National Standards' data is inconsistent and that each school is interpreting the Standards differently.  Aggregating that data into national or local league tables that give the impression of ranking school effectiveness would be unfair".

"The public should not be duped into thinking the effectiveness of schools can be judged on such inconsistent and flawed assessment which cannot properly reflect a student's learning or progress".

"Any National Standards-based league table will simply reflect school decile and serve to name and shame some of the very schools which are working the hardest to raise student achievement," Mr Leckie says.

NZEI believes that school and teacher accountability is essential and parents have a right to know that their children are engaged in high quality, effective teaching and learning programmes.  

However Mr Leckie says the danger is 'National Standards' will increasingly become a blunt driver of the government's accountability agenda.

"That puts our education system at the mercy of junk information.  It will also create unhealthy competition between schools, the likely massaging of student achievement information and a teaching to the test approach.  Is this really what we want for our world-leading education system and our children?"

NZEI says schools want an assurance that centralised 'National Standards' information will be protected, otherwise the government will find that come 31 May, schools will be reluctant to hand their student achievement data over.

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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 urging the government to come clean about its agenda for education and any plans it may have to change the way school principals are hired.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is urging the government to come clean about its agenda for education and any plans it may have to change the way school principals are hired.

Media reports suggest that the government is planning to make the Ministry of Education responsible for the appointment of principals rather than boards, and also ban them from speaking out against government policy.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says the suggestions are alarming and need to be honestly confirmed or denied.

"There have been a lot of rumours and speculation about the issue and principals and schools are understandably very anxious.  Removing the ability of schools and their communities to hire their own principal strikes at the heart of Tomorrow's Schools and you have to wonder how much further the government is willing to go".

"There's also the question of motive," says Mr Leckie.

"Handing over the employment of principals directly to the Ministry and attempting to gag them is a likely response to principals' widespread criticism of National Standards".

NZEI says like charter schools, the government seems like its readying to push through more unmandated educational change and policy.

"Changing the way principals are hired and managed would represent a major shift to our quality education system.  It would be completely wrong and would be met with opposition from principals, schools and communities.  It would also get the new Education Minister off to a very bad start with the sector as a whole," says Mr Leckie.

"The government needs to front up and be honest about what's on its agenda for education and put an end to the climate of suspicion and mistrust that it is fostering".
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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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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government should not be allowed to push any legislation on charter schools through parliament, without a proper select committee process.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government should not be allowed to push any legislation on charter schools through parliament, without a proper select committee process.

The government is allowing charter schools to be set up under its coalition deal with ACT, saying they will be trialed in south Auckland and Christchurch.  The policy was not flagged by either party in the lead up to the election.

NZEI believes legislation will be needed around the funding and governance of charter schools as they represent a fundamental change to the spirit of the Education Act and the Tomorrow’s Schools philosophy of communities running their own schools.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says while the government clearly had detailed policy around charter schools ready to go, the public has been completely blindsided.

"Given that, it is only fair that the any moves to establish charter schools go through proper parliamentary processes so the public at least has a chance to make submissions and have the issues debated".

"Charter schools represent a major shift in direction for New Zealand education and the government must not be allowed to simply pass legislation through the House under urgency, claiming it has a mandate to do so," he says.

NZEI believes that if a select committee was to consider charter schools, it should sit in Christchurch and south Auckland, to hear directly from residents as to whether they want charter schools driving a wedge through their communities.

"There are some very big question around why New Zealand needs charter schools and why the government is so intent on pushing them.  If the government and ACT are so wedded to the idea of charter schools, perhaps they should trial them in Epsom," Mr Leckie says.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government has used the ACT Party as a Trojan horse in introducing charter schools to New Zealand.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government has used the ACT Party as a Trojan horse in introducing charter schools to New Zealand.

Under the National/Act coalition agreement, the government has committed to embarking on a charter schools programme, which will see alternative education providers competing with existing schools for students and funding.

NZEI says the public needs to question why New Zealand needs charter schools and why the policy was never flagged in the lead up to the election.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says "it is astounding that this sort of policy, which has the potential to change the face of New Zealand's education system, is being arrogantly pushed through and given priority, without the public having a say on the matter".

"We need to be asking why we want public money going into privately-run charter schools when there is no evidence they will add any value or benefit New Zealand’s education system or local communities".

Overseas experience shows they can take students and money away from existing schools, undermine communities and increase social segregation. They are also less accountable and there is no proof that they are effective in raising educational standards or achievement levels.

Ian Leckie says the introduction of charter schools is a step towards the privatisation of education for which the government has no mandate.

"I think New Zealanders should be very concerned that the ACT Party, which received less than 1% of the vote, is suddenly shaping and dictating key education policy. The government clearly had charter schools sitting on its agenda and is using ACT to do its bidding".
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says Moerewa School in Northland is at the sharp end of the government's punitive approach to National Standards.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says Moerewa School in Northland is at the sharp end of the government's punitive approach to National Standards.

The community is rallying behind the school to fight a decision by the Education Minister to close its senior secondary class, despite its students' stunning NCEA results.

Moerewa School and its principal have been strong critics of National Standards and are not implementing them because they don’t believe they will do anything to raise the achievement of Māori students.

NZEI immediate past-President Frances Nelson says "the government says it wants to raise the tail of underachievement and Māori achievement.  Moerewa School is doing that, and doing it very effectively.  The government should not turn around and punish them for that".

"What is happening at Moerewa is the sharp end of the government's punitive approach to National Standards.  That approach is being used against schools which are already performing well and making a real difference in lifting student outcomes."

Moerewa School clearly has the confidence of its community and NZEI believes the government should listen to that as a matter of urgency.

"The government should not ignore the resolve of communities such as Moerewa, in standing up for their children’s education.  What we're seeing in Moerewa will be repeated in communities around the country if the government continues to pursue flawed policy and enforce it with unreasonable action," Ms Nelson says.

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The education sector union NZEI TE Riu Roa says the parents of special needs students should be concerned that schools will now be required to report their children’s achievement against "National Standards".
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The education sector union NZEI TE Riu Roa says the parents of special needs students should be concerned that schools will now be required to report their children’s achievement against "National Standards".

The Ministry of Education has changed its advice to schools and says achievement information for special needs students must be included in their "National Standards" reporting.  That means schools will be required to measure the number and proportion of all students as above, at, below or well below “National Standards".

NZEI says not only does that raise serious privacy issues but it could result in schools excluding special needs children if "National Standards" information is used to publish school league tables.

Students with special needs are more likely to sit in the 'below' or 'well below' categories for their age.  

"The result of that will be that in smaller schools, or schools which have a special needs unit, those children will be easily identifiable in terms of National Standards reporting and any public league table which is drawn up," says NZEI’s immediate past-President Frances Nelson.

NZEI also believes there is a big danger that if the media can publish school league tables based on "National Standards" information, and schools are incentivised if they "perform better", then some schools won’t want students who might drag down their overall school achievement data.

"If the government stands by and allows National Standards information to be used to publicly judge and compare schools, and to reward high-performing schools, then there is no doubt some schools will make a conscious decision to exclude special needs children," Ms Nelson says.

"These privacy issues and the potential impact on special needs students, along with the increased school competition that National Standards will promote, again highlight the dangers of a one-size fits-all, tick-the-box approach to education.  They also underline the fact that such issues were never thought through in the haste to implement the Standards".

NZEI is advising Boards not to take any action with regard to reporting and submitting "National Standards" information at this stage because of the issues around the integrity of the data and the need to ensure that the privacy of individual students is not compromised.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is urging National to be open and transparent about its plans for early childhood education given the experience of the last election.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa is urging National to be open and transparent about its plans for early childhood education given the experience of the last election.

In announcing policy in the lead up to the 2008 election, National failed to signal the massive funding cuts it made to ECE when it became government.  Those cuts saw hundreds of millions of dollars stripped from thousands of ECE services around the country.

"ECE services and communities are understandably a little wary of what National's true agenda might be considering they were completely blind-sided by the cuts," says NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker.

Under National's education policy, it would set a 2015 target of 98% of new entrants having participated in early childhood education.

NZEI says that recognises that early childhood education is the foundation for all future learning but any drive to boost participation must promote quality services and qualified teachers.

"That means early childhood education which is properly funded, is affordable for parents, provides low ratios and effective learning environments and has 100% fully qualified staff," says Hayley Whitaker.

"There’s no point in trying to encourage participation on the one hand, while cutting funding to services on the other.  The funding cuts to those services with more than 80% qualified staff has pushed up fees to parents and created barriers to participation."

Hayley Whitaker says it is still disappointing that National does not recognise the value of qualified teachers in early childhood education and will not commit to restoring the 100% fully qualified target.

NZEI says National has made a commitment to maintain 20 Hours ECE and fee controls, in a clear response to public pressure.  The party is also promising changes to the funding model for ECE.

Ms Whitaker says "I think everyone would acknowledge that ECE funding is complex but we would urge National to undertake some fair and open consultation with services and communities before making wholesale change."

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National's education policy for schools is one dimensional and is all about tick-the-box compliance driven by the flawed "National Standards", says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.
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National's education policy for schools is one dimensional and is all about tick-the-box compliance driven by the flawed "National Standards", says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

Under its just-released policy, "National Standards" are the centrepiece of National’s agenda and will now be used as the key accountability and performance measure across all schools.

"Almost everything in this policy is underpinned by National Standards," says NZEI immediate past-President Frances Nelson.

"Professional development for teachers will hinge around "National Standards", there will be more expert advisors to implement them, schools will be expected to publish plans and targets against them by a certain date, provide templates of clear school reports, and schools and teachers will have their performance measured against them."

"It's frightening to see how much more time and money National is willing to throw into 'National Standards' when parents, teachers and school communities continue to have so little confidence in them," she says.

National is also making it clear that it will do nothing to stop public league tables being drawn up based on "National Standards" information.

Frances Nelson says schools will be very alarmed by this.

"Schools know that because the Standards are so flawed, the level of moderation is so inconsistent, and implementation is so varied around the country, any student achievement data based on them is completely unreliable.  It is unfair and dangerous for 'National Standards' to be used to compare and judge school performance, let alone as an accountability measure".

NZEI is also concerned that National wants to shift the resourcing model to 'incentivise school performance' as it suggests that money will be removed from those schools which are not complying with 'National Standards' or are not performing against them.

"More measuring doesn’t make the pig fatter and National's policy will simply increase the bureaucracy in education without adding value to the people who matter - children," says Ms Nelson.

NZEI also believes it is unfair that National has left it so late to release its education policy in the lead up to the election.

"We know National has an agenda for education.  It should be flagged honestly and within a timeframe that people have an opportunity to debate it and make an informed decision," Ms Nelson says.

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Imposing National Standards on bi-lingual and ESOL students amounts to cultural bullying and will do nothing to help them become competent learners, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.
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Imposing National Standards on bi-lingual and ESOL students amounts to cultural bullying and will do nothing to help them become competent learners, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

The government has changed its advice and is now telling schools they must assess bi-lingual and ESOL students and report to parents against National Standards. It is part of updated Ministry of Education guidelines to schools. Previously these students were assessed against English Language Learning Progressions which were developed by the Ministry of Education and agreed to by the Education Minister.

"National Standards are unreliable and flawed and forcing them on this group of students is a tragedy, particularly as it replaces an assessment system which was appropriate for them and recognised their special learning needs and development," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

"Measuring bi-lingual children or children who have just arrived in New Zealand against a set of narrow National Standards, completely devalues their own language, and the other skills and knowledge they have.  It will also discourage first language learning which is so important on so many levels".

Research shows that students who have strong literacy in their own language have greater success in literacy in English and bi-lingualism has been identified as a major contributor to the overall academic success of Pasifika students in New Zealand schools.

Ian Leckie says "National Standards for ESOL and bi-lingual students is completely out of step with that and will only serve to label children further and demotivate them towards becoming competent learners".

NZEI also believes schools will be reluctant to measure these students against National Standards, not only because it is unfair and inappropriate, but because they will have to include them in their official reporting.

"If National Standards information is not protected and will be used to compare schools in the form of public leagues tables, there is a risk that schools will either not include these students' results, or skew their reporting to offset them," Mr Leckie says.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says is questioning why taxpayer money is being given to private early childhood businesses for properties in south Auckland.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says is questioning why taxpayer money is being given to private early childhood businesses for properties in south Auckland.

The government has announced that Kids Count and Learning Houses Limited will receive $1.09 million to build two new ECE services in Papakura North and Weymouth West.  Another company, You and Me Limited, will receive $181,000 to extend two existing services in those areas.

"What works in low income areas are community-based services, including kindergartens and Pacific and Māori language nests, which have clearer links and cater specifically to local families and whanau," says NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker.

"We know that many of these types of services tendered for these contracts and it is concerning to see them missing out. I think people should be alarmed to see hundreds of thousands of dollars of public money being given to private business to own property, run ECE services, and then reap the profits".

"It could set a dangerous precedent and doesn’t sit well in terms of trying to provide quality early childhood education.  Having commercially-driven early childhood services which don't reflect the communities they are in, will simply put up more barriers for those families the government is trying to target," she says.

"It also leaves early childhood education to the vagaries of the market, because if these businesses are not running a profit, they will increase their fees, or shut up shop. There are no mechanisms nor guarantees to ensure this won't happen".

NZEI believes what these communities need is investment in a publicly funded network of early childhood services, not public investment that will simply line the pockets of private business.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it's good to see the issue of compulsory te reo Māori in schools being put squarely onto the political agenda and out for public debate.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it's good to see the issue of compulsory te reo Māori in schools being put squarely onto the political agenda and out for public debate.

The Māori Party has released its education policy in which te reo Māori would be compulsory in schools in 2015.  It also steps out a plan to increase the number of te reo Māori teachers to try and achieve that.

NZEI says compulsory te reo Māori in schools would add value to children's education and to the country as a whole.

Last year a Waitangi Tribunal report warned that te reo Māori was reaching crisis point and urgent change was needed to save it from extinction.

NZEI Matua Takawaenga Laures Park acknowledges that there would be challenges around training enough te reo speakers but having all students learning te reo and having some degree of competency would ensure the vitality of the language.

"Māori is an official language of Aotearoa and it is shameful that only a relatively small number of people are fluent".

Research shows that bi-lingualism can boost student achievement in other areas and makes other languages easier to learn.

"It is ignorant and offensive for people such as the ACT Party leader Don Brash to label te reo Māori as irrelevant and to somehow suggest it has no benefit to anyone but Māori".

NZEI also welcomes the Māori Party pledge to initiate nationwide discussion about compulsory early childhood education.

However it is disappointed that the Party has failed to come out with any policy on the controversial National Standards, given their potential to crudely label students and unfairly compare schools and communities.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says Labour's education policy is comprehensive and promotes high quality education for all children.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says Labour's education policy is comprehensive and promotes high quality education for all children.

It shows a major commitment to quality early childhood education by promising to restore funding cuts to more than 2000 services nationwide, reinstate the target of 100% qualified teachers, retain existing subsidies and fee controls for 20 hours ECE, as well as develop planned public ECE provision.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says that will help boost participation levels and be welcomed by those services and parents who have been hit hard by government funding cuts.

Labour's policy also places some welcome importance on the role and value of school support staff by promising to provide them with training and it says it will work on the viability of centrally funding their positions.

That is in line with a recent report by NZEI, the Ministry of Education and the School Trustees Association which recommends that school leaders integrate support staff more effectively into teaching teams and provide more training.  NZEI has also long argued that funding school support staff through school operations grants is flawed and needs to change.

"It is great to see Labour listening and taking on board some of those issues and reflecting them in their policy," Mr Leckie says.

It has also listened to calls for full funding until the end of 2012 for quake-affected schools and ECE centres in Canterbury which have had significant roll drops.  NZEI has repeatedly lobbied the government on this issue, saying that full funding is essential to support children and communities and to the region’s recovery.

Labour has already said that as part of its education policy schools would no longer be required to implement "National Standards".

Ian Leckie says "we know that with the ongoing confusion and lack of confidence in the Standards, given a choice, schools would happily get rid of them".

"High quality public education is a critical issue for all New Zealanders and we need policies that will help move our great education system forward".

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it is refreshing to see political policy which focuses solely on children and promotes the value of investing in quality early childhood education.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it is refreshing to see political policy which focuses solely on children and promotes the value of investing in quality early childhood education.

Labour has released its policy for children, outlining a major commitment to invest more in young children to improve their health and wellbeing.

NZEI welcomes the clear commitment to quality early childhood education which would ensure every 3 and 4 year old had access to free 20 hours Early Childhood Education a week, maintain fees control, reinstate the target of  100% qualified teachers, and restore government funding cuts to those services with more than 80% qualified staff.

"All that recognises the value of quality early childhood education and the important role it has in making a real difference to children's lives now and into the future," says NZEI National Executive member Hayley Whitaker.

Research clearly shows that investing in children at a young age brings clear and long-term benefits to society and the economy, yet according to the OECD New Zealand's investment in children is among the lowest.

"The government needs to be doing everything it can to make sure all children can participate in quality early childhood education rather than putting up barriers by cutting funding and making it more unaffordable," says Ms Whitaker.

More investment in the overall wellbeing of children in their early years can go a long way towards reducing social inequity and help them get the most out of their learning further down the track.

NZEI also welcomes Labour's promise of additional support to families in need and the commitment to extend paid parental leave.

"Having policy which is dedicated solely to improving the lives of children makes sense and is a bold and refreshing political step.  It is what our children deserve," says Ms Whitaker.
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The Green Party's just released education policy is a welcome endorsement of quality public education, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.
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The Green Party's just released education policy is a welcome endorsement of quality public education, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

Not only are the Greens committed to a fully-funded public education system, but they would drop the controversial "National Standards", re-establish the target for 100% qualified staff in early childhood, increase school operational funding, and support pay parity and professional development for teachers.

"The Greens' policy reflects a sound understanding of what makes a quality public education system and what puts it at risk," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

"It clearly recognises the dangers of the flawed National Standards for schools, students and communities and has listened to the ongoing opposition.  Any promise to remove National Standards will be welcomed by schools which are struggling to implement them or are being forced to comply".

NZEI says it is also refreshing to see the Green Party acknowledging the importance of quality early childhood education by promising to reinstate the target of 100 percent qualified staff.  The target was removed by the government which says 80 percent qualified teachers is 'good enough'.

Ian Leckie says "our youngest children deserve the best and having 100% qualified staff is a hallmark of quality education.  We would hope the Greens commitment on this would also see them pushing for a restoration of the government funding cuts to those ECE services which have more than 80 percent qualified teachers".

The Greens' support for more resourcing of schools through higher operational funding will be music to the ears of school support staff.  They are funded through school operational funding which offers them little job security as schools juggle their funding around tight operational budgets.  

"Overall the Greens educational policy ticks the boxes for commitment to quality public education," Mr Leckie says.

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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says if the Education Review Office is going to publicly report on National Standards, it should provide a warning about the accuracy and integrity of the information.
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The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says if the Education Review Office is going to publicly report on National Standards, it should provide a warning about the accuracy and integrity of the information.

Regardless of data accuracy, consistency or aggregation, ERO is publishing percentages and proportions of students achieving "at" or "above" National Standards as a topline learning result in its latest school reviews.

NZEI says those percentages are now being used in the media as a measure of a school’s success. (Read here)

"The danger is that ERO is putting information into the public arena which is fundamentally flawed and inevitably these bald figures will become the focus of media and parental attention," says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

He says schools will be disappointed so see ERO reporting in this way because they know there is so much inconsistency in the way National Standards are being interpreted and implemented.

"Any student achievement information based on National Standards is completely unreliable and cannot give an accurate picture of where children's learning is at.  To see that information used in the media as a public indicator of a school's success or failure, is disheartening and potentially very damaging".

NZEI says ERO's approach is also at odds with the Ministry of Education's official position on assessment data in which the Secretary for Education states: "Aggregated information on its own does not indicate anything about the quality of teaching, the extent to which a school is making a difference for its students, or the extent to which it is supporting the learning for each and every student in the school. For this reason, comparisons between schools, solely on the basis of aggregated student information, are misleading."

NZEI will be taking up this issue with ERO.  

"At the very least, we believe ERO should be providing a health warning to parents and communities about the fundamental problems with National Standards data if this information is to be used publicly," says Mr Leckie.
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