ACT Releases Minority View On IPWG Report

ACT Deputy Leader and Inter-Party Working Group (IPWG) chair Heather Roy today joined fellow IPWG ACT representative Sir Roger Douglas to release 'Free to Learn', the minority view on the 'Step Change' report launched at Parliament yesterday.

"ACT is motivated by a deep desire to ensure that every student in New Zealand is well-educated. We would like to go further than 'Step Change' and ensure that every student has choice," Mrs Roy said.

"'Free to Learn' makes recommendations across a range of areas within the education system - including teachers, information, providers, and funding. We recommend that a range of providers be allowed to enter the schooling sector, that schools be granted the autonomy to innovate, and that every student and their parents be given a scholarship or tax credit to attend the school of their choice."

"Although there is value in the 'Step Change' report, the fact is that policy will have a far greater impact if it serves every student - not just the five percent at the top of the scale and the 20 percent at the bottom," Sir Roger said.

"Such an approach - while laudable - will fail to generate the impetus necessary for real systemic change. Real reform - and the benefits that flow from them - will not occur if we aim policy at 25 percent of students and exclude the remaining 75 percent."

"'Free to Learn' is about creating an education system that is equitable, accountable, innovative, competitive, and has real incentives for schools to improve student achievement. We must ensure that all students across the board are able to achieve in education and leave school with the necessary skills to, not just survive but, succeed in daily life," Mrs Roy and Sir Roger said.

ENDS

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