May 2005

NZQA Chair Resigns, Minister Mallard Resigns?

New Zealand First says that the resignation of the Chair of the Board of the NZQA, Professor Graeme Fraser, is the action of an honourable man, and that the Minister of Education should follow suit.

“Professor Fraser’s resignation was against the background of the releases of two reviews indicating a number of difficulties with the delivery of scholarship and NCEA,” said Associate Education spokesperson Jim Peters.

“The State Services Commission report is a whitewash. Such phrases as ‘operational risk’, and ‘expectations of Ministers’, do not reflect that the Minister of Education was responsible for ensuring that the senior school curriculum was properly assessed throughout levels 1, 2, 3 and scholarship. Minister Mallard did not.

“As late as March 2002, Byron Bentley from McLeans College petitioned the Minister on behalf of a number of secondary school principals for more time in the development and assessment of NCEA.

“The whole NCEA debate has been characterised by the unwillingness of the Minister to accept any blame or accountability. Instead he has shifted blame to others.

“A ‘conscientious and hard working’ Minister would have ensured that secondary school students didn’t undergo the stress and uncertainty of the appropriateness of accreditation under NCEA. The Minister has failed.

“The Prime Minister should expect, and accept, Mr Mallard’s resignation by the end of the day,” said Mr Peters.

ENDS

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