Media Release
18 February 2003
Teacher Training Overhaul Long Overdue Says New Zealand First
“Criticisms by principals of the skills of some teacher training graduates come as no surprise,” says New Zealand First
education spokesperson, Brian Donnelly.
“With the diversification of the types of courses offered by our schools, the diversification of teacher education
providers and the diversification of those empowered to recognise whether the necessary skill set for graduates is
existent, we no longer have the guarantees of quality which the system demands.
“The New Zealand First-National coalition government set in train a process to overhaul the system. Unfortunately the
work was put on the backburner by the government that followed.
“Now is the time to resurrect that policy work,” said Mr Donnelly.
ENDS