C'mon PPTA, What's Changed?

ACT New Zealand Education Spokesman Deborah Coddington said today she was not surprised by reports that Post Primary Teachers Association members have voted in favour of implementing NCEA Level 3 next year - despite threatening last year to oppose it.

"An eight-page PPTA document I have obtained, highlights the association's serious concerns over the implementation of NCEA Level 2 - yet now, president Phil Smith and his union buddies are happy to roll over and accept implementation of Level 3. So, what has changed?" Miss Coddington said.

"It appears that the Government has bought the PPTA off with a series of bribes - including across-the-board pay increases and a reduction in class sizes. This is just another example of the cosy relationship between Labour and the PPTA - which now seems quite content to allow our kids to continue to be guinea pigs for the flawed NCEA experiment.

"The teachers' union might accept the inevitability of this situation, but ACT will continue to oppose a woefully flawed qualification system that fails parents, children and employers - not to mention teachers.

"The time has come to scrap the NCEA and reinstate a system of nationwide external examinations that are of a high standard and internationally comparable - a system that would ensure that our children receive the quality education they deserve," Miss Coddington said.

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