Schools add weight to national standards debate

BY KAREN GAZLEY

Foxton and Shannon schools made sure their education concerns were counted when the national standards school bus tour, "Trial national standards, not our kids," made its final stop in Parliament last Wednesday.

The New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) tour presented statements containing signatures of teachers, principals, and boards of trustees from 1000 schools, including those collected from its stop in Foxton last month. More than 30 representatives from about eight schools in the Foxton, Foxton Beach and Shannon areas expressed concern about the Government's national standards policy and sought a properly resourced and evaluated trial.

The bus spent nine weeks on the road, visiting hundreds of schools and communities from Kaitaia to Bluff.
Foxton Beach School principal Ann Brouwers said there were four clear campaign messages. "The standards are untried and untested. They impose a one-size-fits-all approach. They could label children as failures. They are not the solution to under-achievement."

She said there appeared to be some confusion in the wording of the standards, which could have been ironed out "with a few schools, not 2500 of them".

Manawatu College principal Bruce McIntyre said the standards should have been trialled this year.

"This is an important process when there are two diametrically opposed parties, each with good supporting arguments."

He said the Government was unwise not trialling the scheme "so that it could prove to the opposing forces it is going to work and there are not the pitfalls that the opposition had suggested".

Because the implementation of national standards this year was focused at the primary and intermediate level, he thought secondary schools were adopting more of a wait-and-see approach to their implementation.

NZEI president Frances Nelson said awareness about national standards was "pretty low" at the outset, but the bus tour had changed that.

"It has created the debate the Government should have allowed New Zealanders to have about this policy before bulldozing it through," she said.

"The overwhelming message is that parents, principals, teachers, boards and the public have serious concerns about what is untried and untested policy with no evidence it will raise student achievement."

Education minister Anne Tolley said schools had rushed to sign up for professional development workshops to support the implementation of national standards.

"So far 81 per cent of schools have registered for, or participated in, the first round of workshops."

She said 4695 principals and teachers, representing 1759 schools, will attend the first round of training, so they can lead implementation in their own schools.

Otaki MP Nathan Guy supports the roll-out of national standards and said that some money was allocated for teachers who may struggle through the process.

"The feedback that I am getting from parents is that they want clear reporting on how well their children are doing in the classroom and against the national standards.

"The Government has [decided] national standards are here to stay because we cannot afford to let one in five children fall through the cracks in numeracy and literacy."

- Horowhenua Mail