Editorial: Small price for good education

OPINION: Much has been said about the national standards which go into effect in primary and intermediate schools around the country this week.

All children aged five to 12 will be assessed as at, above, below or well below the national standard for reading and writing at their year level. Parents will get reports at least twice a year.

Much of the opposition to the National Standards has come from teachers' unions and schools which fear they may be disadvantaged if parents have something to compare their performance against.

Opponents of the National Standards have been labelled "scaremongers" while the National Party's arguments in favour of the policy has been labelled "propaganda".

Most of the heat over the issue has been directed at Education Minister Anne Tolley, with Labour leader Phil Goff going so far as to suggest she should be sacked over the "shambles" of the policy.

What many people seem to forget is that the National Standards policy is not – as some might suggest – something Mrs Tolley manufactured in a moment of madness. National Standards was one of the core issues that National campaigned on during the 2008 elections.

Prime Minister John Key says evidence shows many school leavers do not have adequate reading and writing skills, three in 10 teachers are not doing a good enough job in the area and many schools do not do adequate monitoring. He says the National Standards policy is about ensuring schools and teachers do better in all of these areas.

Mrs Tolley says there is a lot of support for the standards and parents wanted to know "the good, the bad and the ugly" about their children's performance.

With all the to-ing and fro-ing going on over the issue it seems that the focus has moved away from those who the policy centres around – the children.

Anything that can be done to improve the standard of education our children receive should be welcomed with open arms.

The introduction of the standards will be accompanied by $26 million of targeted teacher training, $36 million in extra funding for struggling pupils and $75 million for specialist teachers in primary and secondary schools. This would seem to indicate Government is serious about improving all aspects of education.

If a few underperforming schools and teachers get a bit of a rark-up along the way then that is a small price to pay for ensuring our children are given the best opportunity to leave school with all the skills they need to make a success of their lives and make a significant contribution to our country.

- The Marlborough Express

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