Principals to discuss boycott over standards

Debate over the national standards policy is expected to come to a head at a principals' conference this week.

Canterbury Primary Principals' Association president Denise Torrey said the New Zealand Principals' Federation conference in Queenstown would give principals a forum to air concerns.

They would also discuss the Auckland association's move to tell members to boycott training to implement national standards. "We will gain some direction out of the conference," she said.

"The debate is going to come to a head this week. We just want to talk to the [Education] Minister [Anne Tolley] to sort it out."

Tolley is to address the conference on Friday morning.

Torrey said the Canterbury association would discuss whether to follow the Auckland association's lead when it met in the weeks after the conference.

"We have the same frustrations that the Auckland association has around the implementation of the standards. We feel like the ship is being built while we're sailing it."

Introduced this year, the policy requires every pupil from year 1 to 8 to be measured according to national literacy and numeracy standards.

Some schools around the country, including Torrey's Somerfield School, had refused to introduce the policy before a trial was carried out or all their teachers were fully trained.

Torrey said principals were concerned about the lack of clarity regarding how to measure the standards.

"We're frustrated and we need clarity. How do we make judgments?" she said.

"If we'd had a trial, then all this would've been cleared up. If you give us a trial, we will make it work."

The standards would not help underachievers, she said, as those who were told they did not make it would "lose motivation fast". "Good planning and teaching is what makes a difference to those kids and that's what we have got to be targeting."

- © Fairfax NZ News