"The TEAC recommendations point in the right direction. If implemented, they should help rescue and preserve the credibility of much of New Zealand's post-compulsory education and training. More is needed, said Simon Carlaw, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Manufacturers Federation, commenting today on the second TEAC report.

"It is too easy to point to the findings of the Vice Chancellors' Committee that in 1999, the most recent year surveyed, only 14.5% of all graduates emerged with degrees in the physical sciences, mathematics, technology or engineering and to draw conclusions about the implications for a so-called 'knowledge economy'.

"This risks missing several points. TEAC has at last moved in the direction of minimising hierarchical distinctions in the national value attached to university, polytechnic, industry training organisation or second or third chance education. It seems to have been recognised that they are all part of the same pot and need to get closer together, not further apart. Each must be world class; too many are lagging and several would be bankrupt if they were commercial operations.

"It is also critical to recognise that under-performance in vogue subjects at tertiary level is as much to do with woolly curricula and poorly trained teachers at the primary level, and a failure to turn this around later in compulsory education. The focus on basic literacy and numeracy must be stepped up; transparent benchmarking of performance at all levels is necessary despite the provider opposition that has blocked this to date.

Further comments:

Simon Carlaw telephone 04 473-3000

© Scoop Media

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>>