Pupils 'likely to drop in grade'

BY SONIA GERKEN

A southern primary school principal has warned parents that children who had previously achieved would be below the new national standards through no fault of their own or their teachers.

Gore Main School principal Mary Miller says, in this week's school newsletter, that parents have to realise children who have been deemed to be at the required level and are now below it are not there because their ability has dropped or the school is not teaching them as it should.

" ... It is because the standards are high".

Mrs Miller says her teachers were told at a recent training session that 50 per cent of children in New Zealand would be below or well below in the first round of reporting for mathematics in year 8.

The standard was very high in the hope children could be pushed faster and harder so they were on target to achieve NCEA level 2, she says.

The school had finished its first round of reporting using the new standards and many issues had come to light.

Mrs Miller says she was concerned that 123 families had not managed to attend meetings to discuss how to interpret the new reporting and may not realise some of its implications.

Further information sessions have been scheduled.

Gore Main was not alone in the challenges and issues it had found.

A survey by primary teachers union NZEI found that 119 schools were refusing to implement the standards.

In Invercargill, Salford School principal Marlene Campbell said implementation New Zealand-wide was a shambles and there was no evidence to support the Government's claims it was going well. Salford had "played around" with the standards but they had not changed the school's whole reporting system because Ms Campbell be-lieved they were not at that stage yet.

NZEI president Frances Nelson said the survey results showed there was still a lot of confusion about the standards.

"The overwhelming message is that schools feel implementation is being rushed, professional training has been inadequate.

"We have a situation where schools are complying out of fear of breaking the law.

"It's not too late to listen to the voice of the principals, teachers ... and acknowledge that the standards are flawed," she said.

But Education Minister Anne Tolley dismissed the results.

She said the union was trying to "manufacture a crisis which doesn't exist".

Mrs Tolley, who is at the World Expo in Shanghai, said she was aware of about 10 schools that had refused to implement the standards and the ministry was working with them.

NZ STANDARD

An NZEI survey of primary schools on national standards shows:

119 schools have refused to implement the standards

94 per cent of principals have concerns about them

90 per cent are concerned the standards have not been trialed

83 per cent were concerned about the potential for league tables

- © Fairfax NZ News