The problem, David #2, is that "national standards" don't tell you where the schools are failing, if they're failing at all. They just tell you how good the students are at taking standardised tests.

Here in the US, and from my time in the UK and Japan, I can assure you that what comes next is a drop in learning and a focus on preparing students to take the tests. NZ is already in the top five in the world in educational achievement overall according to the OECD figures released last week: what *exactly* is it that "national standards" are supposed to achieve?

It's a facade to say this is a union issue, this isn't a union issue - the teachers union is but 1 of many groups of people who are concerned by the ill thought given to these standards. All that is being asked is that they go back to the drawing board and think them through more carefully.

Hmmm I wonder why the teacher unions are so against these standards??? I guess those folk who have dedicated their lives to education are just being obstructive and obstinate. Those dirty rats!! That these have been tried and have failed in other countries doesn't really mean anything!? Has this editor had a look at all the evidence?

This should have been introduced years ago... As a parent with kids at school I see a vast difference in teachers and their abilities. Like all of us out there we are employed and paid on our performance...teachers should be to. These are the people we entrust, in partnership with ourselves, to educate and shape our children. If you're a good teacher you have nothing to worry about...

So......is the national standards focus really about teacher performance rather than student achievement? I thought the focus was supposed to be about what's good for kids. If the actual target is teachers, no wonder the government is not concerned with providing evidence or conducting trials to show that this policy will help student achievement.

To summarize: There is no evidence. There will be no trial. So it cannot possibly be about improving student. It does appear to be about teachers. Or is it about politicians and pre-election promises?

Anne Tolley has been bending over to please people like Bill English with the National Standards policy. With the Union, I would think it would be the Ministry and herself telling NZEI where it is at!

Are the National Standards absolutely ready to go live? I doubt it. I think it is not the criticism that is worrying the Nats, it is the unreadiness right now.

Trevor Mallard was on the union bus. So Labour is against standards. What would they do instead? Cave into the unions of course. That's why 40% of our kids are condemned to leaving school without sufficient qualifications to function in the modern economy. NZ down the plughole. It's a sad day when politicians like him interfere in education policy. No system is perfect but we absolutely have to keep on fighting for these failing kids, even if teacher unions don't like it. I am surprised the media see this as only a political fight. It's about much more than that.

Love to see the statistics for this one. 99% of parents will support a national standard so they can see how well their child is doing at school. 99% of good teachers have nothing to hide. 100% of poor teachers are angry about being found out. 100% of Teacher Union workers want to hide bad performance. Clearly, Unions and Labour ar one and largely fund each other - anything a National Government do is bad. Wakeup and smell the Coffee.

I think what the government is doing is quite clear - give parents a relative understanding of how their child is doing and the relative performance of teachers. The fact the Teacher's Union is up is arms only makes me more sure that the government is on the right track - perhaps this should also be a measure of success. Poor performing teachers should be exposed and not hide behind the apron of a pathetic union.

When I went to school, there already were national standards in place - they were called School Certificate, 6th Form Certificate & Bursary. Scaling was removed the year I sat School C so there were very easy comparisons between schools based on the marks earned by the students because the score on your exam paper is the score that appeared on the piece of paper from NZQA. Thanks to the previous Labour government's rort of that system and introduction of NCEA, this comparison can no longer be made. While I agree nationwide standards should be applied it's done better by a qualification system that has more gradations than "Pass" and "Incomplete" - there's no FAIL in education anymore for reasons that defy logic. Preferably there should be at least 4 gradations; FAIL, C, B & A in ascending order.