New NZEI President’s “to do” list

New NZEI President’s “to do” list

Embargoed to 6am 18 January 2017

NZEI Te Riu Roa’s new President, Lynda Stuart, today (18 January) begins her two-year term leading New Zealand’s largest education union.

As the principal of Mt Roskill’s multicultural May Road School, Ms Stuart is passionate about tackling inequity, and for schools to be properly resourced to respond to their communities’ aspirations for their children.

“As educators, we are absolutely committed to ensuring that every child is able to reach their potential and achieve their dreams, regardless of socio-economic background, special learning needs or any other barrier to success,” she said.

“I believe that all New Zealanders want this too. Our children are the future of the entire country and quality public education must be a funding priority. This will be our focus in the upcoming General Election.

“One of the things that really concerns me is that our education system relies on the political whim or ideology of our politicians and there is the potential for us to swing in different directions with every change of government,” said Ms Stuart.

“In this country, we’re small enough to have a conversation around what we want our education system to look like.”

Ms Stuart’s dream would be for all political parties to agree to a 20-year vision for education, working alongside educators driving the professional knowledge and using good evidence.

“It would mean that whichever political party is in power, that there is a commitment to a shared vision and the direction we’re going in, rather than just having policy that comes in at us from left field. That’s really important to me.”

Ms Stuart has a number of areas she wants to focus on during her two-year term, particularly:

Initiatives that make a real difference for Maori and Pasifika students including appropriate resourcing for bilingual units and resources in schools
Ensure all children are attending quality ECE services with 100% qualified and registered teachers
A funding ‘jolt’ for the entire education sector that recognises and compensates for the years of underfunding
An effective equity funding scheme for schools that recognises the increasing inequity in NZ
Additional funding to support an extra 20,000 more children with special learning needs
Sustainable funding for schools to employ support staff with fair pay and security of employment
Ms Stuart has relocated to Wellington and will return to her role at May Road School at the conclusion of her two-year presidency.

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