Tolley confused on National Standards

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Sep 22 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Tolley confused on National Standards

Tuesday, 22 September 2009, 4:58 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Kelvin Davis
Associate Maori Affairs Spokesperson
Associate Education Spokesperson

22 September 2009 Media Statement
**
Tolley confused on National Standards**

Anne Tolley keeps answering questions about National Standards in the House with reference to reporting to parents, says Labour’s Associate Education spokesperson Kelvin Davis.

“If reporting to parents is her sole objective for National Standards she has wasted a lot of time and money developing those standards when a cheaper and simpler alternative would have been to issue reporting exemplars to schools and then getting ERO to review and report back on a school’s ability to report to parents.

“Teachers would be able to make the slight adjustments to their practice relatively easily. Instead the Minister wants to implement cumbersome and complicated changes that are not proven to raise achievement,” Kelvin Davis says.

“National Standards are being dumped on teachers at the same time as teachers are expected to implement the new curriculum.

“The Minister has fallen into the trap of confusing a teacher’s ability to report with their ability to teach,” says Kelvin Davis

“They are separate skills. One, when done correctly, raises student achievement and the other is about reporting to parents.

“Unsuccessful teachers can report in plain English but that doesn't mean their classes are learning.

“Just as Robbie Deans’ ability to report back to a press conference on his team’s performance on Saturday didn't mean he could get them to succeed, a teacher’s ability to report to parents doesn't mean he or she have got their child to learn.

“Anne Tolley has taken a narrow and shallow view of the purpose of her National Standards. Student achievement will be the casualty,” Kelvin Davis says.

ENDS

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