Education Minister Trevor Mallard said a review into the Education Review Office signalled long term changes for the office that would help towards improving the standard of education across all schools.

"My initial response is that it is a thorough and useful report and I am very supportive of the thrust of the recommendations," Trevor Mallard said.

"I'd like to thank Stan Rodger and the members of the review team for the work they have put into this review and I am confident that the Government will accept many of the recommendations.

"In particular, I plan to personally support in Cabinet the review team's recommendations that the Education Review Office remain a stand alone department.

"When I appointed the review team, merging the ERO within the Ministry of Education was an idea that I was open to advice on. It is a point that the review team canvassed thoroughly before making its recommendation and I am happy to accept its advice.

"I also appreciate the review team's recommendation that the focus of reviews should be on educational improvement, while maintaining a compliance function.

"The report contains some useful advice on how the functions of the Education Review Office can be adapted so that the office can play a more active role in helping schools reach high standards of teaching.

"Schools often feel battered and abandoned after an ERO review. I would like to see criticism of a school followed closely by practical solutions and I believe this report provides ideas on how that can be achieved.

"The Government will be investigating these options closely over the next few months before we issue a formal response. I'm pleased to report that already, Ministry of Education and Education Review Office have been meeting to work through some of the issues raised in the review," Trevor Mallard said.

The full report is available at www.executive.govt.nz/minister/mallard/ero-review

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>