Hon Bill English - National Party Education Spokesman
15 February 2005
Labour moves to shut down NCEA debate
National's Education spokesman, Bill English, says the inquiry into the NCEA scholarship debacle is nothing more than an
attempt to keep everyone quiet and get the issue out of the public eye.
"Students and parents can have no confidence that the Labour-appointed review group will get to the bottom of last
year's scholarship shambles, let alone fix it in time for the exams this year.
"There are no experts on assessment and exam systems in the group. It is a collection of political representatives of
education sector groups."
The group, announced today, has a very similar membership to the already existing Secondary Principals Leaders Forum.
"This group has been advising the Minister for years. Last year, members of the group raised serious concerns about
scholarship exams and the Minister chose to ignore them," says Mr English.
"Schools principals and education sector groups have already been told that they cannot make further comment while the
review is taking place. It won't work. The Minister might be able to gag sector groups but he can't gag parents and the
students who are the victims of his botched system.
"This review is a politically motivated, politically appointed attempt to make the issue go away.
"If Labour was serious about this review, they would appoint experts in assessment who are capable of overhauling the
way the NZQA handles scholarships," says Mr English.
ENDS