Fix It As We Go Approach To Education Unacceptable

March 24 2009
For immediate release

‘Fix It As We Go’ Approach To Education Unacceptable

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa says the government’s ‘fix it as we go’ approach to National Standards is unacceptable.

The Education Minister has just announced the Terms of Reference for the Advisory Group on National Standards. She says it’s vital that we get National Standards right to benefit all young New Zealanders and that the Advisory Group will provide advice on any changes to be made to the design of the Standards.

NZEI says that simply underlines the fact that National Standards are untried and untested and that they are being steamrolled into schools without being trialled.

“You can’t take a fix-it-as-we-go approach to children’s learning,” says NZEI President Frances Nelson.

“We have no confidence that the Standards will raise achievement and there is huge support from schools and communities for them to be trialled. The more the government tinkers around the greater the risk of damage to our education system.”

The government has also just announced an OECD review of evaluation and assessment in New Zealand schools because of our innovative approach.

Frances Nelson says “unfortunately, because of the rushed implementation of Nationals Standards, what the OECD team is likely to see is a confused and muddled picture. Some schools will be ignoring the Standards, while others will still be struggling to get to grips with them and make them fit with what they’re already doing.”

“It is curious that the government is prepared to listen to an OECD analysis of what is happening in New Zealand schools, when it won’t listen to the views of parents, educators and the academic community about National Standards,” she says.

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