Government needs to avoid another education botch up

The Government needs to come up with a solution over National Standards data in order to avoid another education botch up.

NZEI Te Riu Roa National President Ian Leckie says he welcomes the Prime Minister’s acknowledgement that National Standards information is too “ropey” to give parents accurate information about schools.

“The Government would be wise to act now to stop the release of dodgy data and avoid another education botch up that ultimately will be bad for children and for schools.

National Standards league tables will not give a fair and accurate assessment of a school’s performance. It would be irresponsible, knowing this, to release information that could mislead parents and wrongly label schools and their communities as “failing”.

“We would be very happy to talk to the Government about the ways in which the data could be safely used for its original purpose of supporting teaching and learning. But we are not prepared to take part in any face-saving measure that would involve public release of this unreliable data.”

“At the end of the day we are concerned about the impact on our children and their schools. A system that sets primary schools up to compete with each other rather than focuses on ensuring all schools succeed would be disastrous for New Zealand’s quality public education system.

“It is vital we maintain what makes our education system world-leading: schools and teaching professionals working collaboratively and in the best interests of all New Zealand children.”

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