Lets keep going with national standards. Nek minute its even worse than we started. How do we know? Well firstly other countries have done it unsuccessfully so they began copying us because what we had worked!! Everyone hqs there own views which unless they are involved in education and learning is based on their own education which has changed dramatically over the years. Learning is not about filling a cup to meet a standard. Who wants to be in a room of 80m2 with 20-35 othr people being told how it is so that a standard is reached. Evedy child is unique and different. And everyone starts at different places which means generally every child cant hit the same target at the same time. Everyone wants the very best for their children (hopefully) so if league tables arrive why would a parent send their child to a school at the bottom? This creates a misconception about the school and its students. Sure some teachers may not be the best but it is the same in every industry and they all have standards too!! Do our kids a favour. Invest intheir health, invest in their education and if changes are made ask the people that actually do the job and front up everyday to the children, the parents, and the community because they do know more than people think

cm #230 - Your suggestions are bizarre, to put it mildly.

League tables will not help educate our children. They will only ghettoise some schools, and make higher decile schools more "desirable" and earning more resources.

National's plans do nothing for our children, as someone wrote here: http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/dear-minister/

If this is how National want to improve our children's education then they are utterly clueless.

It is truly amazing the assertions that John Key has been making about our education system. All of them false or at least distorted. National policies will take our system from being in the top 5 in the world at an affordable cost and see it slide down the achievement tables. This is what has happened to all of the other countries that have pursued these policies - UK, USA, Australia etc.

To make this country top we need to do the opposite of what National advocates.

Deal with childhood poverty and illness. Individualise teaching and learning. Trust our teachers and schools to do the right thing. Provide positive training and support based upon proven successful systems not political agendas. Keep high stakes assessment off the agenda.

For goodness sakes, let's follow successful countries and their lead not the tired old failed ones!!

cm #230 What an absolute load of rubbish. Where did you get these ideas from? I am a first year teacher and without a doubt kids respond best to interactive lessons that have opportunities for a hands on approach to learning. Lecture videos and books?? Get real mate.

@cm. Can you please provide peer reviewed research to back your claims. The significant amount of current research I have read (peer reviewed) seems indicate that lecture is the least effective, and that individualized If you are going to make blanket (and frankly racist) statements that contradict current research, give something quality to back it up. When the future of the countries children is at stake, I'm not related to sacrificed based on I'll informed ranting...

If teaching isn't standardized then it should be and is the root of our problems and the reason our education costs are spiraling out of control whilst the output is simply deteriorating.

Sure some races prefer a hands on approach and we can cater to those needs as they arise.

But the majority are happy learning from lecture videos (which they control at will) books and occasionally quizzing the teacher. I admit this is aimed at secondary school lessons and maybe intermediate as the students need to be somewhat developed.

By standardizing the learning for the majority, we can focus our attentions on the minority for which the system doesn't work perfectly.

Jacey...thanks for your comments...and yes i have done that job...i have been a teacher at tertiary level...a lecturer as some like to say. I have two teachers in my immediate family here in NZ, and couple more in the extended family. I do hear the horror stories all the time about how the system is failing many young people.

Plus i am a parent as well. So i do know what i am talking about.

And i do get the feeling that you are a good teacher because you acknowledge that there is a problem.

And from my point of view, having national standards will solve some of that problem. Plus it may root out the crap teachers which i am sure you would like to see as well.

I think John Key is a very sucessful leader, I think National's handling of three huge disasters was sucessful. I think they stirred us through a difficult economic time. But as a mother of two young boys, who are my most precious assets, I will not be voting for National this weekend because of of their policy of National Standards. My boys are individuals with individual needs that their teacher is aware of and has catered for... they are not jars on a production line that are filled to a certain level and then moved off. And Anne Tolley's pushy and arrogant manner, assuming that she's knows better than the teachers & principles that actually work with our children makes me very angry!

#205 No, you remember incorrectly, NCEA was Lockwood Smith's brain child, Labour got stuck with trying to make something of it. However having said that given a choice between Cambridge and NCEA you are far better off with NCEA as research shows it prepares students better for University.

Patrick S. #220

Nope I think I'm smart because I am. Being rich is just an artifact of that fact.

I just understand that some people are better than other people. I know I am better than many other people. People just need to learn their place, accept it, and then they will live happier lives without having goals that are unreachable for their level of intelligence.