Teachers, Parents Ignored in Advisory group

Teachers, Parents Ignored in “Independent” Advisory Group on National Standards

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says it is deeply disappointing that the Education Minister has ignored the voices of teachers, principals and parents in appointing an independent advisory group on National Standards.

NZEI President Frances Nelson says Education Minister Anne Tolley failed to consult practitioners and parents in devising the Standards, and has now ignored them again.

“What principals, teachers and parents are saying in their thousands around New Zealand is that the Standards need to be trialled first before they are imposed on schools. The fact is that the Standards, in Professor John Hattie’s words, ‘have no data, no evidence and no evaluation – they are pronouncements without evidence’,” Ms Nelson says.

“Setting up this advisory group without a robust trial of the Standards amounts to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. It will be children and their learning that is put at risk if the Standards are inaccurate and only refined after the fact.”

ENDS

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