Come clean Nick!
Labour education spokesperson Trevor Mallard has called on the Government to reveal which recommendations in the report on the length and time schools are open for they will adhere to.
Trevor Mallard said the final report of the working party that reviewed the length of the school day and year include some recommendations more compatible with Labour's education policy than the Government's.
"For example, the Government wants no part in deciding what professional development teachers undertake. In contrast, Labour sees professional development as a major government responsibility.
"There is nothing more crucial to a child's learning than the quality of their teacher. Having a teacher continually upgrading their skills is beneficial to the entire school sector, not just the individual school where the person happens to be teaching at the time. It is therefore largely a government responsibility and Labour will take this job seriously. The Government wants to pass the buck onto schools.
"This is one of those reports where the
Government could pick and choose a few of the cheap and
nasty recommendations and put the ones that might make a
real difference to the standards in schools into the 'too
hard' basket," Trevor Mallard
said.