Minster Of Education Hon Trevor Mallard
Speech To The Greater Wellington Area Deputy & Assistant Principles Association
Thursday 23rd March
12pm
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
I last addressed your group two years ago and spoke about the policy development process that I was working through as
Labour's education spokesperson.
The feedback I received from organisations like yours was an integral part of that process and I thank you for your help
in that respect.
It is much better to stand here and be in a position where I can start putting some of those ideas into practice.
As you probably noticed in the media, the new Government has just passed its hundred day mark.
Within the compulsory part of the education portfolio, I haven't made any announcements that news editors feel are sexy
enough to make big headlines on the front page lead, or lead the TV or radio news, but there have been a number of
changes and proposals announced that I feel are advancing our aims in education and I'll go over a few of these today.
Bulk Funding
Next week I will be announcing details of a one-off payment to non-bulk funded schools. Basically this is part of the
money that the National Government earmarked to go to bulk funded schools. Under their administration, the money that
will now be put in school accounts early next month, would have been given back to Treasury.
In Opposition I maintained that if the money was available as an incentive for schools who switched to bulk funding, it
should be available for all schools. The one-off payment is not the equivalent to what schools will get under the new
funding formula which will be introduced for all schools next year. It is simply recognition that schools that have not
switched to bulk funding deserve their slice of the cake as well.
I am expecting opposition from some bulk funded schools who are predicting doomsday without actually acknowledging that
there will be more money in the schools sector. It is true that some bulk funded schools will get less than they
currently receive. However, many will be better off financially. You certainly would not get that impression from
reading the public comments they are making without even knowing what the funding formulas will be for next year. Those
decisions will be announced by the end of August. In the meantime, those schools should resist spreading misinformation.
I'd also give the same advice to the Act education spokesperson who is trying to incite bulk funded schools to take
legal action against the Government.
It is a core responsibility of the Government to fund schools, and to determine the funding system that it feels is
fairest to the entire school sector. We gave ample warning of our policy in this area and we will continue to work
closely with representatives of bulk funded schools to ensure the transition goes smoothly. There will be legislation in
the House covering this area which will be introduced early next month.
Enrolment schemes
Also included in that piece of legislation are plans to strengthen the enrolment scheme legislation. This Government
considers that students have a right to attend their neighbourhood school. There is no use promoting choice when a
parent does not have the fundamental choice to send their child to the school next door.
We also support more transparency and fairness in relation to out of zone enrolments. This means that siblings should be
given priority and other enrolments should be decided on ballot.
The current system can result in a waste of resources where some communities have schools with significant numbers of
spare places while other schools are over capacity. We intend to optimise the use of school property by stopping schools
from growing through out of zone enrolments.
I am aware that we are going to get some flak over this policy. But it is the Parliament's role to examine all the
arguments and come up with a system that we believe is the fairest to all. It is my role to lead that debate. There will
always be families who miss out on their first choice of school. But in situations where, without an enrolment scheme, a
school would be overcrowded I don’t think schools should be able to pick and choose students based on interviews, or
sporting or academic ability. That to me seems unfair on a child who might only be of average talent, but who may be
able to fulfil their potential at a particular school. They deserve the same chance to get into that school as a child
of exceptional ability.
Governance
The third major area in the first piece of legislation covers governance and will include provision to opt for staggered
board elections so that not all board members are replaced at the same time.
Second bill
The second amendment bill to be introduced later this year would strengthen further aspects of the Education sector.
Issues covered in that bill will include:
The establishment of a Parent Advocacy Service
Processes to report student achievement
Teacher registration requirements and the establishment of an Education Council
Work on that legislation is still in the early stages but it will be introduced later this year with the aim of passing
it next year.
NCEA
One of the decisions I have made this year which is perhaps of most interest to you is the extension of the timetable
for the introduction of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement.
It was not an easy decision to make but on balance there was a risk that teachers are not entirely confident in the
training and support they will have had. I’ll return to this.
I am not opening the door to go backwards.
This new certificate can solve long-standing problems in the senior secondary school. It has all the best elements of
the traditional examination system: externality; fairness; rigour.
At the same time it recognises that there are great many skills and abilities that examinations can’t measure and that
employers want to know about.
Increasingly our society requires that young people who are fronting up for jobs or for entry into further education and
training need a qualification to attest to their knowledge and skills. I believe they will get that from NCEA.
It is long past the time when the problems in senior secondary school qualifications needed resolution and it was
tempting to push ahead with the previous timetable.
But the persuading factor was the support that teachers need. This has to work well. The students deserve nothing less.
It can only work as well as it must, if teachers are confident in their knowledge and skills and are ready to undertake
the internal assessments that are needed.
The time extension will allow us to build that confidence.
By the end of 2001 I want to be sure that every teacher of a qualifications class will have participated in at least
four full days of teacher professional development — working with their peers from other schools to ensure that their
expectations of student achievement are consistent; and they have common skills and understandings of what and how to
assess and report.
In this respect I want to announce that the Government has decided to grant two teacher-only days this year, and request
schools to build in two call back days next year to ensure that every secondary teacher can be involved in this
professional development.
Professional Development
Aside from the need associated with the implementation of the NCEA, I see a need to improve the provision of
professional development across the sector.
If there is one thing that is integral to a child's learning, it is the quality of their teacher. High quality
pre-service education is important to this, but so is on-going professional development – especially given that most of
the teachers who will front classrooms over the next generation are already in the profession. Notwithstanding the fact
that the average secondary teacher is even older than I am.
As the pace of economic and technological change accelerates, teachers need to continually update and develop their
skills and knowledge to meet these new demands.
While schools have their own priorities and plans for teacher development, the Government also has a responsibility to
develop the profession as a whole and we support a continuation of centrally resourced core in-service and training
services. We will also maintain a nationally coordinated School Advisory Service.
This year professional development will continue to be delivered as it has been in the past but the Ministry of
Education is to report back to the Government with new options for 2001 and beyond. Those options will take into account
the range of school and teacher needs and ways of ensuring that teachers get good value from additional funding.
Developing the leadership and management skills of school leaders is also a priority for the Government.
The demands on principals’ skills and abilities have increased over the last decade with devolution of management
responsibilities and rising public expectations. It is an issue which both Principals and Boards of Trustees have said
needs to be addressed from a more central perspective;
Already there is a wide range of training and development options for current or aspiring principals. But we need to
look further whether there are gaps that need to be addressed. The Ministry of Education is already consulting the
sector on this issue, and we would welcome the input of deputy and assistant principals.
Quality applications to colleges of education
But no matter what professional development is available, we also need to work at improving the perception of teaching
as a profession to enter into. I became very concerned about this a few years ago during the 1996 secondary teacher pay
round. I spoke to about 100 senior secondary school students and asked how many of them were interested in becoming
teachers. Two students put up their hands and the other 98 laughed at them. I think students were very much aware that
their teachers were getting a raw deal from the Government of the time. More recently I was shocked to hear second-hand
of a teacher who was actively discouraging students at a careers evening from considering teaching. I hope that that
attitude is not widespread.
There are issues with pay, but teachers will never be among the country's top earners and never have been. There are
other issues that I think will contribute to improving the perception of the profession – such as taking a good hard
look at teacher workloads.
I am hopeful that our moves towards lowering the cost of tertiary education will have some impact on this. We've started
off by removing the interest from student loans for full-time and other low income students. That was clearly identified
by student leaders as the key priority. With an education costing less, I hope that young people will think more about
career satisfaction than merely looking at dollar signs when they are making choices about what to study.
Education Council
Our proposed new teaching council will also assist in raising the status and profile of the profession. To date,
attempts from within the teaching profession to establish a professional body have not been successful.
The Teacher Registration Board (TRB) already performs some of the functions of a professional body. But there is no
teacher representation on the Board and the Board lacks flexibility in its functions. The Education Council would
replace the TRB and would represent the interests of employers, government, teachers and the wider community.
Conclusion
So, in conclusion, it has been a busy 12 weeks. As I said earlier, I don't think any of this will have been a surprise
to you. We have worked hard in the last few years in consulting and communicating with a wide range of sector groups to
develop a policy which considered the education needs of all New Zealanders. Now I would like to open up for the floor
for questions.