Extremely supportive? Yeah right! 96 percent opposed


Education Minister Anne Tolley’s claim that school boards of trustees are extremely supportive of her national standards has been given the lie by correspondence directly sent to her, says Labour Education spokesperson Trevor Mallard.

“Anne Tolley claims that only school principals oppose the standards, but she’s known all along, from letters and emails she has received, that parents and boards of trustees are extremely worried, not extremely supportive,” Trevor Mallard said.

“It begs the question why she’s not telling the truth. Is it because she’s trying to conceal the extent of disquiet and about the standards and the rush and lack of preparation with which they have been introduced?

“Or is it because she refuses to face up to the reality that the shambles marks her out as a minister who fails to meet any standard of competence?”

Trevor Mallard said that under an OIA request, he had received copies of 51 items of correspondence to Anne Tolley from boards of trustees.

“One of these letters is pretty non-committal. Another is from a trustee who supports the standards. The other 49 or 96 percent range in tone from concerned to scathing --- they are certainly anything but extremely supportive.

“The letters contain comments like:
o ‘we hold grave concerns’;
o ‘National Standards will stifle student and teacher creativity’;
o ‘it is my opinion that this project would best be dropped’;
o ‘have decided we will not be implementing National Standards at our school’;
o ‘deep concern and strong opposition to the National Standards regime’
“Is it any wonder that the education sector feels that Anne Tolley is refusing to listen to their concerns when less than 2 percent of the correspondence she has received from trustees is supportive of her national standards and the incompetent way in which she has introduced them,” Trevor Mallard said.

“Her refusal to face up to the opposition of boards of trustees follows her outrageous lie in claiming that an Education Review Office report published last week shows 80 percent of schools are working well with national standards. The opposite is actually the case. Eighty percent of schools are still not well prepared more than halfway through the school year in which have been introduced with such haste.”

ends

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