Anxiety on standards: Mallard

National standards have shifted teachers' focus to the detriment of learning, the Labour Party education spokesman told Southland school principals yesterday.

Trevor Mallard was in Invercargill and met Southland primary school principles to gauge their feedback on the new education standards in schools.

The national standards require twice-yearly reports on pupils' progress in relation to standards in reading, writing and mathematics in the first eight years of school.

Principals from Waverley Park, Donovan, St Patrick's, Salford Primary and the Bluff and Ascot Community schools attended the meeting to discuss their concerns about the standards.

There was a common theme among the principals that the introduction of the standards was rushed, without any trials and unwisely moved away from the existing school curriculum.

Donovan Primary principal Peter Hopwood said for the first time in his teaching career he felt no-one was listening to teachers' and principals' concerns.

Mr Mallard told the group there was anxiety across the country about the standards.

Similar schemes overseas showed the education of pupils at either end of the scale could suffer, he said.

A lot of pupils were hardly being taught at all and he feared the same could happen in New Zealand schools. Intelligent students, who would probably pass the test with only little guidance, could fall by the way side, while teachers target the marginal pupils, he said.

The same could happen to children who took longer, or found it difficult to learn, Mr Mallard said.

Teachers' focus was being directed towards passing a test, he said.

Education should not be too regimented because pupils learned in different ways and at different rates, he said.

In an ironic twist, the meeting was held at Donovan Primary, the former site of Collingwood Intermediate.

The Labour Government made the controversial decision in 2004 to merge and close several schools in Invercargill.

While he said he could have done things "slightly differently", he defended the decision. "There were too many schools in Invercargill and far too much money was being spent on buildings and grounds."

The extra costs required for the day to day running of smaller schools, whether it was administration, a caretaker or maintenance were better spent on teaching children, he said.

sam.mcknight@stl.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News