Documents show Ministry concern about National Standards

16 July 2013
Immediate Release

Documents show Ministry concern about National Standards

NZEI Te Riu Roa says it is not surprised at revelations that the Ministry of Education has ongoing concerns about the effect of National Standards on New Zealand children’s education.

National President Judith Nowotarski says the documents, released to Radio New Zealand under the Official Information Act, show that Ministry advisers have serious questions about the accuracy of National Standards.

She says this is one of the key concerns of the education sector and something that it has been trying to tell the Government for years.

It is evidence once again that National Standards are still very much a trial and even the Government’s own advisers are questioning whether they have been set at the correct level.

“It is particularly concerning because they effectively label 25-35 percent of our children in Years 1-8 as “not achieving”.

The documents question the effect this labelling will have on children’s educational identity and future aspirations.

“National Standards unfairly label children as young as five years old as ‘not achieving’.  This matters because these results are now published and seen as the overarching level of educational achievement for a child. 

It is interesting that these documents show that the concerns of Ministry of Education advisers mirror the concerns of the education sector.

“These documents once again show that even the Ministry of Education does not have confidence in National Standards as an accurate tool for measuring achievement.”

“This is serious because it shows that the Government is continuing to pursue and subject New Zealand children to “ropey” National Standards despite knowing that they are not an accurate reflection of achievement.

ENDS

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