Kiwis reject education reform
New Zealand’s public and education professionals have sent a powerful message to Government by rejecting its policy to
increase class sizes. ‘Parents are saying ‘hands off’ our education system,’ says Paul Drummond, President of the New
Zealand Principals’ Federation.
‘Parents know that our education system is right up there with the best in the world and they want their children to
continue benefiting from the excellent teaching going on in our schools which consistently delivers high achievement
results for the vast majority of Kiwi kids,’ says Drummond.
‘The strength of our system lies in our self-managed, locally controlled model of schooling which brings the community’s
voice into the classroom,’ says Drummond. ‘It is a model which is serving us well and together with our broad and rich
curriculum is the reason for our outstanding success,’ he says. ‘This model helps us build strong connections with our
communities and demands that we are scrupulously accountable to them,’ he said.
Drummond acknowledges and supports the government’s ambition to lift children’s achievement to even greater heights and
is keen to work with the Minister on ways to do that.
‘We are ambitious to see every Kiwi kid enjoying educational success, not just the majority,’ he says. ‘There are
challenges to reaching that goal but with a strong political will on our side we will make more progress,’ he said.
Drummond believes it is not helpful to the stability of children and their futures to be subjecting them to major
education reforms every time there is a change of Government. ‘We would welcome cross-party agreement on education
policy,’ he said
‘Education is the key to the future prosperity of the country and should be treated as an investment not a cost,’ he
said.
ENDS