Resignation Reignites Ethical Dilemmas for Principals

Media Release 15 February 2012 – for immediate release
Attention: Education and Political Reporters

Resignation Reignites Ethical Dilemmas for Principals

‘The latest news that the principal of New Windsor School, Louis Guy, has taken the ultimate step and resigned over the implementation of the government’s national standards policy is no surprise to the profession,’ says Paul Drummond, President of the New Zealand Principals’ Federation (NZPF).

The resignation has been described by the local school community and fellow principal colleagues as the loss of a highly respected and successful leader.

‘We can ill afford to lose quality principals to our profession,’ said Drummond.

All New Zealand principals and their school communities have been grappling with the moral and ethical dilemmas the national standards policy has generated since its introduction in 2008. It has been a battle between principals and boards wanting to comply with government policy and at the same time not wanting to reduce learning opportunities for children or to unfairly label them as failures when in fact they were just learning in an uneven pattern as most children do.

‘New Zealand schools are up with the best in the world in their standards of educational excellence and achievement and parents and teachers do not want to see the very rich and unique curriculum be narrowed down by national standards which are a measurement of just the 3Rs,’ said Drummond. ‘It’s New Zealand’s outstanding curriculum that has got us to the top. We are the envy of the world. We want to keep going in the direction that brings us this success,’ he said.

‘We want every Kiwi kid to achieve to the very highest level possible. That means we need to maintain strong ethics, a high trust culture, close dialogue with our communities, and have open and robust discussions with our policy makers.

ENDS