17th February 2011

The education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa has withdrawn from the government’s National Standards Sector Advisory Group out of frustration and disappointment with the group’s failure to address the real problems with National Standards and their implementation.

The group was set up by the Government last year. It was supposed to provide an opportunity for sector groups to share experiences, identify issues and then feedback to the Education Minister.

NZEI says the group is failing to take action to address the serious professional concerns which principals and teachers have been raising since the Standards were introduced a year ago.

“Even the Prime Minister is now admitting that implementation of the Standards is not going smoothly but we’ve seen nothing from this group which indicates it is prepared to take an honest look at the fundamental issues. Those are that the Standards are flawed, implementation has been rushed, and there is no evidence they will raise student achievement or add any value to children’s learning,” says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

There are about 300 schools which have taken a public stand and are refusing to set targets against National Standards. A survey released by the Auckland Primary Principals’ Association today shows that an overwhelming majority of schools have also not met a deadline for sending in National Standards information to the Education Ministry.

NZEI’s withdrawal from the advisory group removes a large and important sector voice and there would have to be a significant change of approach to bring it back to the table.

Ian Leckie says “in the interests of students and the future of New Zealand’s education system, we would like to see the implementation of National Standards deferred until the real issues have been addressed. Schools should no longer be expected to set student achievement targets, label children and report to parents based on unreliable, untested information.”

“We need to see some real commitment to taking action on those issues and an undertaking from the advisory group to give honest feedback to the government. Until that happens, taking part is simply a meaningless exercise in frustration.”

ENDS

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