Not being a Kiwi, I am not qualified to comment on past or present NZ schooling. But I did experience National Standards "tick-box' teaching in the UK and I have to tell you that it's an educational disaster.

Few politicians (nor, it has to be said, most of the general public) have not even the remotest idea about what makes a good school or a good teacher. They don't go in to observe real teaching or see how real children behave when in a group with thirty others. Oh no, that would spoil their prejudices (hence some of the moronic statements in other letters) Teaching is a very personal and imprecise role simply because teachers are dealing with the physical and emotional complexity of developing children: and children cannot be processed and turned out like widgets.

Anne Tolley is the worst case scenario for education in this country: a here today, gone tomorrow career politician of limited intellect who is hell-bent on climbing the greasy pole - mindless of anything but the need to force through a silly policy. To Anne Tolley all children are numbers that can have other numbers attached to them. Anne likes simple numbers, she can understand simple concepts so makes simple things important. She must hate children.

Anne Tolley knows that she has no substance and so, rather than engage in discussion with academics and professional educators she dismisses them out of hand in what is really a most ignorant manner.

Good luck Kiwis, you're going to need it.

I have to agree with Ian on this one. I was at school during the Tomorrow's Schools era and it was a disaster, I have a cousin who is at school now and it's even more of a disaster. A generation of teachers/education-system has failed New Zealand citizens by allowing left wing politics to influence a system that was working fine by world standards before all the changes. A shake up of the system is overdue, the teachers union can pick out small problems with the new system, just like any new system there will be a few bits and pieces that need fixing. But the current system has many problems and many voters agree. At the last general election a lot of the votes for National were a vote against left wing thinking that has become so dominant in our society, not just from traditional National supporters like farmers and business owners but from a lot of middle class and working class New Zealanders. I think it’s shameful that an unelected union can oppose the elected Government just to make a political point while the children are caught in the middle yet again.

Of course decent teachers would be worried about national standards, they are the ones smart enough to know that it's a waste of money, won't improve anything, and is so fatally flawed that it will never give us accurate information. That's the big point here, the information the testing generates won't be any good because it's so badly designed. The whole thing is ridiculous, it has been implemented overseas and never, ever succeeded in improving actual education standards. The Government is treating us like a bunch of dummies, introducing a completely useless system and telling us that people don't like it because they don't want accountability. What a joke. Look at the overseas evidence. How would you feel, say, if you had a heart condition and the doctor said to you 'okay, I have this new medicine I'm going to put you on, it has been trialled overseas and never been found to work, but I don't care about the research'. You'd think he was a complete idiot and tell him to get stuffed. So why is the Government doing this to our most precious resource, our kids?

It's interesting to see how suckered in people have been. The idea that teachers are afraid of accountability is a smokescreen and, somewhat cleverly, helps promote the lie that this testing will result in a reliable national 'standard' against which students and teachers can be valdily and reliably assessed. It will not produce anything of the sort, as a professional with 20 years experience in psychometrics (no, I'm not a teacher, I work in science) I categorically state that this system is incabable of producing reliable and consistent measurement. It is flawed, it is awful, and it's a sham, even more so with hollow, uninformed arguments about 'fear of accountability'. The thing will be a disaster and the children of New Zealand will suffer.

Ian and Bertie's comments are classic examples of why this policy needs slowing down. They show scant understanding of the issues and the sort of prejudice about teachers that has come mark Joe Public's view of teacher opposition. Thank God for people like Bill who dare to think a little more deeply then the drivel dished up by those that still claim teacher opposition is because they don't want to be accountable.

Tomorrows schools are here today...and its a bag of worms. I want a national standard that all students and schools can be measured against, with no "fudging" of the tests or results to make schools and teachers look good. I also want a focus put back onto the basics..reading, writing and maths as core subjects and the tossing out of all the other touchey feeley crap that distracts from education The kind of stuff that parents should be responsible for.Schools are for core subject education not a tool of social enineering.

Lange was the instigator of this problem with "Tomorrow's Schools". Either these left-leaning principals and their union followers do what the public require (and voted for), or get out of the profession. Decent teachers are not worried about the national standards, only the useless, union-inspired losers that don't believe in scrutiny.

Everywhere else has "accountability"....except Teachers. No wonder our kids are failing. Geez Bill its people like YOU who are holding this country (and our kids) back.

I disagree. We need better teachers, ones who can think for themselves, not ones who need to be told 'explicitly' how to measure performance. Its time we had teachers who can 'think' and participate in improving education for our kids. Not teachers who need to be spoon-fed on what it is they need to deliver.