Labour policy will spell welcome end to ‘National Standards'

14th September 2011
For Immediate Release

Labour’s policy will spell a welcome end to ‘National Standards’

Labour’s just-released policy to raise student achievement in primary schools will spell a welcome end to ‘National Standards’, says the education sector union NZEI Te Riu Roa.

Under the policy, schools would monitor and track student progress against their own school expectations, and would not be required to implement ‘National Standards’.

“This would mean schools could refocus student learning back on the curriculum and allow them to rely on robust and tested assessment practices to measure student achievement,” says NZEI President Ian Leckie.

Hundreds of school communities have been bullied into minimal compliance with ‘National Standards’ but have no confidence that they will do anything to raise student achievement.

Mr Leckie says “considering that lack of confidence and the level of concern and frustration about the implementation of National Standards, we know that given a choice, schools would move swiftly to dump them.”

Polling also shows that an overwhelming majority of principals, teachers and parents are very worried by the prospect of league tables and believe it will be unfair to compare schools based on ‘National Standards’ information.

Ian Leckie says because of the lack of consistency in the way ‘National Standards’ are being applied around the country there can be nothing national about them.

“Any policy which would stop unreliable student achievement information being collected centrally will be welcomed.”

Labour’s policy shows trust and confidence in the ability of schools to set high expectations for their students, measure their progress against robust assessment tools and encourage learning based on the curriculum and the individual child.

“Once schools are no longer required to use ‘National Standards’, they will quickly be tossed aside and go down in history as a failed educational experiment,” Mr Leckie says.

ENDS

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