Hon Bill English
National Party Education Spokesman

16 February 2006

NCEA: teachers need transparency too

National’s Education spokesman, Bill English, says the Minister of Education should provide all teachers with a detailed explanation of how and why NCEA results have been re-jigged.

“In Parliament this week, Mr Maharey said he would provide me with a detailed briefing.

“If he’s happy to give this information to the Opposition Education spokesman there should be no problem giving it to teachers, parents and others with a vested interest in NCEA results.

“Labour has gone all out to avoid another year of embarrassing political fallout over botched results, but their handling of this year’s results has been dogged by controversy - with exam markers publicly expressing grave concerns about the scale of re-marking.

“If the public is to have any confidence in the NCEA, Labour and the NZQA must be as open and transparent as possible with everyone concerned.

“They need to show that the changes that have been made have some integrity, otherwise it looks like just another year of NCEA results which are more about politics than achievement.”

Mr English says he intends taking up the Minister’s offer as soon as it can be arranged.

ENDS

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