12 November 2019

The Government has been forced into an embarrassing back down following the release of Tomorrow’s Schools, National’s Education spokesperson Nikki Kaye says.

“This is a Government that didn’t do the work in Opposition, it has carried out 15 reviews and broken 37 education promises. It continues to put ideology before the needs of students and what parents want for their children.

“We were very concerned that the hub proposal would have marginalised parental involvement in our education system. Unfortunately some of the changes proposed by the Taskforce including school zoning and school property management will marginalise parents and school boards and further reduce parental choice in education.

“Parents will have real concerns about the changes proposed around school enrolment zoning which will have a significant impact upon parental choice.

“National has engaged constructively, holding more than 30 public meetings and meeting directly with the taskforce on several occasions.

“We support the decile system being scrapped, a decision we made in Government and we support some proposals around areas such as better support for trainee teachers.

“National believes changes to the Ministry or Education are important however the proposed Education Service Agency risks ‘rearranging the deck chairs’ rather than delivering the improvements in teaching and learning that needs to occur. I am concerned for some of the staff at Ministry of Education who are now facing significant uncertainty around their jobs.

“I wish to acknowledge all of the people involved in the independent taskforce chaired by Bali Haque for the huge amount of work they have done.

“National is focused on making changes in our education system that will ensure parents and communities remain at the heart of school decision making and that will improve teaching and learning. We will release our Education Discussion Document tomorrow.

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