Government defends National Standards
BY KIMBERLEY CRAYTON-BROWN
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The Government has defended its National Standards for schools, after principals opposing the system said it would do more harm than good.
Education Minister Anne Tolley said no other country had National Standards like New Zealand's.
"This is a world-leading initiative and many countries are watching with interest," she said yesterday.
Two Invercargill principals voiced their concerns that enforced National Standards would harm pupils in the long term.
Labelling young children "well below" or "below" the standard was "inherently repulsive", Salford School principal Marlene Campbell said at a national area school conference on Thursday.
Mrs Tolley said the standards had been developed by experts, and allowed teachers to assess students and make a professional judgment about their progress using a variety of assessment tools.
The school reports issued to parents meant pupils and their families could track a child's progress. The standards were set at a level that indicated whether a child was on track to achieve NCEA Level 2.
The standards had been created to identify early pupils who were falling behind, and $36 million had been allocated to support schools where many pupils were not meeting the standards.
Waverley Park School principal Kerry Hawkins also spoke at Thursday's conference, and said similar standards had been used internationally and failed.
Mrs Tolley said New Zealand's National Standards had been developed to avoid many of the problems that other countries had experienced.
The New Zealand standards did not include a national test, and were not averages of national pupil achievement, she said.
Schools are required to send parents the new reports this year as part of the National Administration Guidelines for schools. Reports to the Education Ministry would begin in 2012 after a "bedding-in" period. During this period, consultation and advisory groups would determine the best way for these reports to be presented, and address any concerns arising from the new system. A survey had been distributed by some principals to schools known to oppose the standards, with almost 300 principals responding.
Mrs Tolley said most schools had started implementing the standards, and "did not see what all the fuss was about".
She said if principals opposed the standards, then it was an employment matter for the board of trustees to discuss with their principal.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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As a retired school teacher, maic #1 is likely to be familiar with the name Lester Flockton. Lester is internationally recognised as an educator; particularly in the field of assessment. I encourage maic #1 to go to Lester's website http://www.lesterflockton.co.nz/ and view what his research says about National Standards.
Please note that what he is presenting for our consideration is research: not the rather "casual with the facts" mantra-like sound-bytes that have been the hallmark of the proponents of national standards.
As a retired primary teacher I support the principle of National Standards. As taxpayers we pour millions of dollars into primary education. Parents are compelled to send their children to State primary schools unless they can afford private schools.
It is an utter nonsense that many of our children enter secondary school deficient in Reading, Language and Maths skills. I say that these skills should unashamedly be given priority and that parents should be given Plain English reports which inform them whether or not their child is meeting the standards. If the child is not meeting the standards then parents should be informed what action is being taken.
That being said teachers should be given the time, resources and support to do their job effectively and not lambasted for situations which are out of their control - e.g. poorly behaved pupils, child continually absent.
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As a practising primary teacher, I can confidently predict that National Standards will fail in improving primary education. The National Government has pushed National Standards through without any trial period. What is the sense in championing an untrialled initiative, as Anne Tolley does in this article? When parents begin receiving their childrens' first reports, which report against National Standards, they will see that these standards are, ironically, not standardised. The clarity of the information contained in these reports will vary, as they do now, from teacher to teacher. More distressing, will be the incorrect labelling of their children as 'below standard', as teachers struggle to understand this untrialled new system. So, why has National Standards been pushed through? Because primary education in New Zealand is failing our children? No. In fact, New Zealanders should be proud that, even though our schools are seriously underfunded, they still provide an education that is considered to be one of the best in the world. That is, according to the OECD and the UN. The National Government, in a bid to find support for their policy, say otherwise.