In Defence of Public Education

In Defence of Public Education

The Quality Public Education Coalition (QPEC) is delighted to see two groundbreaking studies released this week both acknowledge New Zealand’s top performing public education system.

The OECD released its new study called “Your Better Life” while the NZ Treasury released its own version of a different system, called “Working Towards Higher Living Standards for New Zealanders.”

The OECD stated that “New Zealand is a top-performing country in terms of the quality of its education system.” Retiring Treasury Secretary, Jon Whitehead, acknowledged as much in his speech on Wednesday, saying “But on the positive side of the ledger we have health and education outcomes that are better than OECD averages.”

It is encouraging to see the high overall level of student achievement being recognized by informed commentators. This is in direct contrast to the view expressed by columnist, Deborah Coddington: “But while our state-run education system remains so appalling, we're forever doomed for Third World status.” (Herald on Sunday, 15 May 2011).

QPEC disagrees with Ms Coddington’s politically motivated appraisal of our public education system but is concerned that too little attention is directed at raising the living standards of our country’s children so as to improve their chances of succeeding at school.

Mr Whitehead pointed out that income inequality in New Zealand has been growing faster than any other OECD country over the past 20 or so years, to a point where we now have the unenviable standing of 7th place in the ‘most unequal’ stakes.
QPEC acknowledges the great work being done in many fine schools that help children overcome low living standards and achieve to their full potential at school. But QPEC calls for more to be done to raise living standards for all New Zealand children.

NZ Treasury http://www.treasury.govt.nz/releases/2011-05-25h

OECD Study: http://www.oecd.org/document/63/0,3746,en_2649_201185_47912639_1_1_1_1,00.html
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