Council call to put off school standards

A research group which helped the Education Ministry develop the controversial new national standards is calling for them to be delayed a year.

The Council for Educational Research wants the standards "road tested" next year instead of being made compulsory. It fears a rushed implementation will create confusion and leave schools feeling "unsupported".

The concerns come as hundreds of primary school principals threaten to boycott the Government's flagship policy unless changes are made to limit public access to schools' performance data.

Principals' Federation president Ernie Buutveld has warned that league tables would create a "blame and shame" culture, which could lead to schools being shunned and children feeling inadequate.

The concerns have not swayed Education Minister Anne Tolley, who remains committed to introducing the standards from next year.

Under the policy, pupils from years 1 to 8 will be assessed in numeracy and literacy against national academic standards, with school performance data publicly available under the Official Information Act.

The council's researchers advised working groups which developed the standards, and it has also been contracted by the ministry to analyse submissions on them.

But the council said as an independent education research organisation, its role was also to step back and consider the standards at each point in their development.

"We think there is a strong case for a nationally co-ordinated road test . . . for at least a year, rather than attempting to finalise them for 2010."

Schools would need more time to "bed in" the standards so any issues could be sorted out, otherwise there was a risk of creating confusion.

There was also a danger of literacy and numeracy being made the sole focus of school accountability and they could feel unsupported in implementing the wider curriculum.

A spokesman for Ms Tolley said the ministry had received about 5000 submissions on the standards and it was preparing a report on them.

"We don't intend to make ad hoc public comment on individual submissions in the meantime."

The council was also keen to avoid the creation of league tables, saying they were not valid indicators of a school's quality.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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