Govt strikes another blow against quality public education

Government strikes another blow against quality public education

The Government is continuing its disastrous and unfair education policies with today’s release of further ropey and misguided National Standards data.

“National Standards are unfair and misleading. They do not represent a real picture of a school or community’s education,” says NZEI National President Judith Nowotarski.

“Pitching schools against each other is the wrong path to take in order to address the causes of educational under achievement.

“The Government knows that last year’s data was inaccurate and that means that it is impossible to assess any improvement in learning across a school or a region.

“Publishing poor quality data in ever increasing detail doesn’t make it any more reliable.
“This is another stage in a seriously harmful education policy. Unfortunately the big losers will be students who are struggling and those from poorer backgrounds.

“It is particularly concerning that the Minister is claiming the data is valuable when the Government has admitted that it has not been moderated, is not accurate, and is not a true reflection of how well a school is performing

“There is even a disclaimer on the Ministry of Education’s own website advising that care is needed when considering the data. The Ministry itself says this data should not be used as a basis for ranking schools as this would be misleading and harmful.

“So why is the Minister of Education continuing with this misleading and harmful policy?”

ENDS

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