3 June 2015

More proof that National Standards a failed experiment

New reports from the Ministry of Education further highlight what parents and teachers have known for ages – the National Standards data being touted by the Government isn’t worth the paper it is written on, Labour’s Education spokesperson Chris Hipkins says.

“A study of 15,838 children at 100 schools found that 60 percent of teachers’ judgments against the standards were wrong. National has repeatedly ignored advice from teachers that the standards are flawed and inconsistent. Their chickens are now coming home to roost.

“The Ministry of Education’s own analysis of 352 children who were judged to have met the maths standard for their age showed that only 28 per cent, less than a third, had actually met the standard.

“Schools around the country have done their best to make National Standards work, but they were dodgy from the outset. National thought they knew more about how to educate kids than the people who do it every day and they’ve got it badly wrong.

“There is growing concern among principals that the standards will have unintended consequences such as narrowing what is taught in schools, creating league tables of school results, and demotivating children who are judged to be ‘below’ the standards.

“John Key and Hekia Parata continue to trumpet bogus statistics to claim National’s education policies are working, yet the Ministry of Education’s own evaluation found increases in the percentage of children at or above the standards should not be read as an indication that they are performing better over time.

“National Standards are a failed experiment. It’s time for National to front up and admit their education policies are a failure,” Chris Hipkins says.

ends

© Scoop Media