Members Agree Cooperation Key To Education Success

Media Release August 1, 2005
From NZEI Te Riu Roa For Immediate Use
Ms05/30

NZEI MEMBERS AGREE CO-OPERATION KEY TO SUCCESS IN EDUCATION

Members of NZEI Te Riu Roa, agree with the core plank of the Green Party’s education policy that co-operation not competition is the key to providing quality education in our public schools.

The Greens have issued their education policy which states that co-operation not competition is crucial within the compulsory education sector.

The party’s policies include: A 10 percent increase in each school’s operations grant; An increase in funding for children with high special needs so that it covers 2% of the school population; Reducing pupil: teacher ratios toward the goal of 1:20 in primary and secondary; And reductions in the teacher:child ratios in early childhood education.

“NZEI members agree that New Zealand children need education policies that foster a co-operative approach to education, rather than policies such as compulsory bulk funding for all school staff that inject competition into the public education system,” says NZEI Te Riu Roa National President, Colin Tarr.

“They know from experience that the most effective way to provide a quality education for children is for staff to work together within schools and in partnership with their students’ families and the wider community.”

NZEI members also support investing in the public education system and would welcome an increase in operations funding for schools, extra funding for children with high special needs and reducing teacher pupil ratios in schools and in early childhood education.

“These policies represent an investment in education that would deliver benefits for children, their families and for society as a whole,” says Colin Tarr.

“However simply increasing each school’s operations grant would not solve the problems of low pay and lack of job security that school support staff suffer by being paid from the operations grant.”

“Bulk funding support staff from each school’s operations grant is clearly not working and that’s why they want to develop a fairer and more effective system for funding their jobs,” says Colin Tarr.

ENDS

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