Chris Hipkins
MP for Rimutaka
Education Spokesperson
MEDIA STATEMENT
13 December 2016
Confused national standards policy coming unravelled
Hekia Parata’s answers in Parliament today highlight once again how confused and botched the Government’s national
standards programme is, Labour’s Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins says.
“Bizarrely, Hekia Parata declared today that ‘National standards are not intended to have a positive impact on students’
- so what’s the point of them?
“She then went on to claim that no teacher is forced to tell any child that they are below standard, yet her own
government has made it mandatory for schools to report those very results to parents.
“A new report out today found that only 16 per cent of teachers believe the standards have a positive impact. Instead
they express real concern that the standards are ‘soul destroying’ and that they have ‘led to a deterioration in the
educational deal our children are receiving’.
“National standards are neither national nor standard. There is no consistency between schools in the way they are
applied, several research reports have raised serious questions about the validity of the results they produce, and
parents, teachers and principals all have serious concerns about them.
“National standards don’t measure progress, so kids who are doing well can still end up being labelled as failures.
“Labour will ditch national standards and return the focus of kids and teachers to a broad curriculum that allows every
child to discover and realise their full potential,” Chris Hipkins said.