Does Steve Maharey Agree?

new-zealand-national-party

Mon Jan 15 2007 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Does Steve Maharey Agree?

Monday, 15 January 2007, 9:39 am
Press Release: New Zealand National Party

The Education Minister needs to tell kiwis whether he backs the Teachers Council decision to allow an early childhood teacher involved in hitting toddlers and force-feeding them to the point of vomiting, to work again in the sector, says National’s Education spokeswoman, Katherine Rich.

“Kiwis will be disappointed and surprised if he thinks yes. Any parent asked if they would want their own preschoolers anywhere near an early childhood teacher who thought force-feeding, hitting and ignoring distressed toddlers was good practice, will give a resounding no!

“The Teachers Council decision to allow this teacher back into an early childhood centre with only a few provisos is disappointing. Requiring the teacher to do some additional training as penance is woefully inadequate.

“To become an early childhood educator, teachers have had to do years of training.

“Force-feeding and hitting children is the antithesis of everything an early childhood educator learns in the years before they are allowed to teach.

Preschool children are the most vulnerable of students. They can’t fend for themselves. To have done such extensive training and still believe that force-feeding and hitting toddlers was good practice clearly indicates that this person is not suited to the profession.

“A few hours extra training will not overcome this teacher’s natural instincts, which lead her to believe that force-feeding to the point of vomiting was a good method of getting a child to eat, and that hitting or ignoring screaming toddlers was professional behaviour to have in her centre.

“How can the New Zealand public, and more importantly, the parents who use that centre be assured that hitting or force-feeding won’t happen again at the centre?”

Ends

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