Nanaia

MAHUTA

Education Spokesperson

23 February 2012 MEDIA STATEMENT
National Standards ‘not achieved’

The latest OECD report on New Zealand education confirms what the sector has always maintained - that National Standards are not an accurate measure of children's learning achievement, Labour’s Education spokesperson Nanaia Mahuta says.

“The review notes that the design and implementation of National Standards has a high degree of inconsistency between teachers and across schools.

“That is quite clearly a result of the Minister not taking the lead on professional development to ensure priority is given to consistency in the moderation of national standards and children's achievement levels,” Nanaia Mahuta said.

“Schools are instead left to do what they can to assess, review and moderate the setting of standards within their schools and in some instances within school clusters.

“There is widespread frustration at the way the Government introduced National Standards as a decree 'from on high' and then just walked away, rather than listening to the education sector and working with it to make improvements.

“The OECD review rightly raises questions about how National Standards information should be used. Let's hope the Minister pays attention to that finding.

“All our children deserve the very best from a learning experience. Unfortunately that is not happening – it is being hampered by the Government steamrolling its ideology with no regard to evidence-based research to inform what really works to improve educational outcomes,” Nanaia Mahuta said.

ENDS

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