Teenagers doing worse at school

new-zealand-labour-party

Tue Apr 05 2011 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Teenagers doing worse at school

Tuesday, 5 April 2011, 9:12 am
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Teenagers are doing worse at school under National, not better, despite John Key's personal promise in 2008 to lift educational performance for 16 and 17-year-olds, Labour's acting Education spokesperson David Shearer says.

"New figures show the proportion of teenagers with NCEA level 3 passes is slumping, with more students are staying at school longer," David Shearer said. "New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) statistics show that only 54.7 per cent of the 45,025 year 13 pupils gained National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level three.

"Sixteen and 17-year-olds are staying at school longer because there are no jobs for them, but they're not learning the skills they need and New Zealand needs. It's a gigantic missed opportunity.

"Skilled tradespeople are leaving for Australia in record numbers and we should be training these young people as fast as we can, not allowing them to fail. There will be enormous demand for skilled tradespeople to help rebuild Christchurch --- everything from carpenters and electricians to plumbers and cabinetmakers. There are still the problems of leaky buildings and a looming housing shortage in Auckland.

"But where are the skills we need going to come from? They're not passing NCEA at school and they're not getting training in the workplace. Last October John Key cut $55 million from industry training and apprenticeships. That's the sort of money we need to train our youth to meet New Zealand's challenges in the future. Tragically, under National we have a skills shortage at the same time youth unemployment is at an all-time high.

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"In Opposition John Key promised a youth plan to 'target crime and education'. In one of his major election year speeches, on 29 January 2008, he said: 'Far too many young people are not in education, training, or work - more than 25,000 in fact aged 15 to 19. Far too many kids leave school with no qualifications.' Under National that problem has got worse, not better. More kids than ever are leaving with no qualifications.

"It's another example of how National identified a problem and held out hope to fix it, but had no solution and as a result things are getting worse not better," David Shearer said.

John Key's statement, 29 January 2008: http://www.johnkey.co.nz/archives/307-NEWS-Youth-Plan-to-target-crime,-education.html

John Key's speech promising "We will concentrate on equipping young New Zealanders with the education they need for a 21st century global economy."

http://www.national.org.nz/files/2008\_Key\_ellersliespeech.pdf

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