Teachers Council, Mallard's Disgrace

Wednesday 19 May 2004

Deborah Coddington - Press Releases - Education

Education Minister Trevor Mallard's much vaunted Teachers Council is a disgrace, ACT New Zealand Education Spokesman Deborah Coddington said today.

"At today's Education and Science Select Committee, MPs learned that - since being established in 2002 - the Teachers Council has managed to breach the Public Finance Act 1989; issued only a draft code of ethics; spat out its director Margaret Kouvelis; and burned up hundreds of thousands of taxpayers' dollars," Miss Coddington said.

"Mr Mallard crowed that the Teacher Council would provide `leadership' - something he claimed the old Teacher Registry Board didn't do. The push for the Teachers Council came from the teacher unions, annoyed that they had no representation on the Board.

"Now we have another bureaucracy, with up to 17 council members representing everything from unions to Maori.

"Remuneration for members, who meet up to three days a month, is $340 per meeting. The chair - Joanne Beresford - gets $540 a day. Labour man Stan Rodger has received nearly $24,000 in 17 months.

"And what has been achieved? Teacher quality has not improved. Kura kaupapa teachers still aren't all registered. The only evidence produced for the Select Committee showing that the Council has actually done anything is a hazy draft code of ethics, written in such a way that you need a degree in bureaucratese to decide exactly what is good or bad teacher behaviour.

"Once more, Mr Mallard has shown his incompetence as Education Minister. He's set the Teachers Council up to fail. Teachers who honour their profession should think carefully before giving Labour their vote at the next election," Miss Coddington said.

ENDS

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