Chris
HIPKINS
Education Spokesperson

23 April 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT

National Picks Ideology Over Proven Success

The National Government's decision to slash the very successful Te Kotahitanga programme shows just how hollow its rhetoric about improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged students really is, says Chris Hipkins, Labour's Education spokesperson.

"Te Kotahitanga has a proven track record of improving educational outcomes for students who have traditionally been over-represented at the lower end of the statistics.

"After 12 years of development and extensive evaluation and refinement, Te Kotahitanga should be being rolled out more widely, as part of an intensive effort to lift educational attainment for marginalised students. It works, but now National has given it the chop.

"This is a mean-spirited, penny-pinching exercise that will rob a group of already struggling students of their best shot at educational success, and all the opportunities that come with it.

"Hekia Parata continually talks about improving educational outcomes for disadvantaged students, particularly Maori, but her actions clear show how hollow her words are. Her government is now cutting one of the most successful programmes that there is.

"National's priorities are crystal clear, they'd rather divert money away from successful programmes that have been proven to deliver results and channel it into their ideological charter schools experiment.

"Decisions about education should be based on evidence, and the evidence is Te Kotahitanga works. The evidence around charter schools shows just the opposite," Chris Hipkins says.

labour.org.nz

ENDS

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