New Education Model Tags Some Children As Burden To Country
Tracey Martin MP
Spokesperson for Education
22 JUNE 2016
New Education Model Tags Some Children As Burden To Country
Children are being tagged in the new bulk funding model for education – and some will be permanently labelled as ‘a burden to the country’, says New Zealand First Education Spokesperson Tracey Martin.
“That ‘future burden’ tag will be based in part on their parents’ circumstances, and be used to make a statement about the child’s future potential.
“Parents will have no idea about how their child is categorised.
“This new funding system proposed by Education Minister Hekia Parata puts children in a few boxes, targeting a limited number of categories rather than using achievement and teacher judgement – it plans to ignore any ‘human element’.
“There’s nothing fair and equitable about it. New Zealand First believes in using the central collection of school entry data so that all children, regardless of their parental circumstances, will have their educational needs met.
“This would include children who require extension because they have gifted and talented markers, children who are challenged by dyslexia and dyspraxia, etc, and those challenged by low levels of literacy and numeracy upon school entry.
“It’s a backward step to use parental circumstances to predict a child’s future potential.
“Tick box predetermination of children’s lives has no place in New Zealand,” says Mrs Martin.
ENDS