Govt only interested in ‘tick-the-box’ standards compliance

7th July 2011
For Immediate Release

Government only interested in ‘tick-the-box’ compliance on National Standards

It is clear the Minister of Education is simply looking for ‘tick-the-box’ compliance on National Standards and has no interest in the quality of the information, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

In parliament the Minister Anne Tolley confirmed that teacher judgements around National Standards are inconsistent and will need years of work.

NZEI President Ian Leckie says “it’s not surprising that teacher judgements will be inconsistent as schools are being forced to work with a set of fuzzy, confusing and hastily-developed Standards. What the Minister is essentially confirming is that any information schools are providing on National Standards is meaningless.”

“Her comments also beg the question as to why the government is being so heavy-handed in forcing schools to submit their charters with National Standards information.”

Hundreds of schools are refusing to include National Standards data in their charters because they know they will produce unreliable information. Instead they are sticking with the trusted and evidence-based assessment data they have always used.

“Why should schools subject children to inaccurate judgements about their learning and then base their achievement targets on that information?” Mr Leckie asks.

The government is also going to extraordinary lengths to force schools to comply.

Last month Steiner schools, which argue that National Standards don’t fit with the special character of their schools, were sent a letter saying they could lose their government funding if they did not submit charters with National Standards data. Following that threat they have sent their charters in with minimal compliance.

There are hundreds of other schools around the country which are still very confused about National Standards and are also only nominally complying out of fear of having their Boards sacked and commissioners installed.

Ian Leckie says they “are simply doing what they can to be seen to be fulfilling their charter requirements, but continue to have no confidence that National Standards will do anything to raise student achievement. It all underlines the folly of pushing through hasty and undercooked educational policy.”

ENDS

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