Tens of Thousands of NZers Concerned by Standards

Tens of Thousands of New Zealanders Express Deep Concern Over National Standards

Almost 38,000 New Zealanders have signed a petition expressing deep concern with the Government’s National Standards policy.

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa launched the community petition in February with the message “Trial National Standards not our Kids’. It has been signed by people from Kaitaia to Bluff.

The government has refused to listen to the call for a trial, which has also come from principals, teachers, Boards of Trustees and academics.

“As the first round of school reporting to parents comes to an end, the confusion about National Standards and the lack of confidence in them is overwhelming. A recent NZEI survey of more than 700 principals showed only 2.5% felt very confident in implementing the Standards. Effectively what we have now is a Clayton’s trial involving all New Zealand schools,” says NZEI President Frances Nelson.

NZEI’s community petition says that National Standards are untried and untested, could label children as failures, and could result in damaging league tables and are not the answer to underachievement.

Frances Nelson says “38,000 people have shown they share those concerns. Two months ago NZEI also took 1,000 school community statements to parliament echoing the message of the petition. The statements were signed by thousands and thousands of school principals, teachers and Board of Trustee members. These voices should not be ignored.”

“What we want now is to ensure that no school is compelled to implement the National Standards until their school community is satisfied that the issues highlighted in our petition have been addressed,” she says.

The petition is being presented to Labour MP Trevor Mallard and Green MP Catherine Delahunty on Parliament’s forecourt at 11.45am on Tuesday 22 June by a group including parents, Boards of Trustees, principals and teachers.

ENDS

© Scoop Media