Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Work smarter with a Pro licence Learn More

Gordon Campbell | Parliament TV | Parliament Today | News Video | Crime | Employers | Housing | Immigration | Legal | Local Govt. | Maori | Welfare | Unions | Youth | Search

 

Treasury gives incoherent advice to Education Minister


Treasury gives “incoherent”, ‘misinformed”, “confused” and “wrong” advice to Education Minister on class sizes

Professor John O’Neill of Massey University has written to Hekia Parata, the Minister of Education, detailing why the advice given by the Treasury on class sizes was wrong.

“The Minister was told by Treasury that class sizes should be made larger, freeing up funds for initiatives that could better improve educational performance”, said Liz Gordon, QPEC National Chair.

The advice given by the Treasury was apparently based on John Hattie’s book Visible Learnings. But Professor O’Neill points out that Hattie himself notes that increasing class size is poor policy.

Key points made by O’Neill are that:

• All the studies in Hattie’s book that deal with the quality of teaching to learning are actually about tertiary students and their teachers, but Treasury applies it without evidence to schools;
• Hattie only included ‘broad-brush’ meta-analyses in his study (i.e. studies that analyse studies), and the kind of detail needed to make effective policy is missing;
• The Treasury appears confused about what Hattie’s analysis means, and has cherry-picked aspects that support its own views; and
• The Treasury’s view is just plain wrong. There is excellent, high quality research on class sizes that can inform policy that has been ignored. The main finding of such research is that implemented properly, smaller class sizes in the early years can improve the learning of low-achieving or at-risk students.

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading

Are you getting our free newsletter?

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.

QPEC’s view is that there has been far too much poor policy made on the basis of ideological views of what should happen in education. Politics often overrides research, and it is distressing when quality research is dismissed in favour of uninformed policy programmes. It is essential at the present time that this does not happen.

“Ministers do sometimes find it convenient to ignore good educational research and go with other views when making policy. But so much effort is being put into programmes to raise the achievement of under-performing young people, and these programmes rest on a reasonably well-resourced classroom. Raising class sizes would be a dreadful policy to implement in New Zealand at present, and would put the reform agenda backwards. We urge the Minister to read Professor O’Neill’s letter and request a high quality summary of advice on class sizes from advisors.

“Alternatively, we are sure that Professor O’Neill would be pleased to help”, said Dr Gordon.

Letter to Minister (PDF File)

© Scoop Media

Advertisement - scroll to continue reading
 
 
 
Parliament Headlines | Politics Headlines | Regional Headlines


Gordon Campbell: On The US Opposition To Mortgage Interest Deductibility For Landlords


Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don't think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of political capital by giving landlords a huge $2.9 billion tax break via interest deductibility, while still preaching the need for austerity to the disabled, and to everyone else...
More


 
 

Government: Concerns Conveyed To China Over Cyber Activity
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity... More

ALSO:


Government: GDP Decline Reinforces Government’s Fiscal Plan

Declining GDP for the December quarter reinforces the importance of restoring fiscal discipline to public spending and driving more economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says... More

ALSO:


Government: Humanitarian Support For Gaza & West Bank

Winston Peters has announced NZ is providing a further $5M to respond to the extreme humanitarian need in Gaza and the West Bank. “The impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on civilians is absolutely appalling," he said... More


Government: New High Court Judge Appointed

Judith Collins has announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister Jason Scott McHerron as a High Court Judge. Justice McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996... More

 
 
 
 
 
 

LATEST HEADLINES

  • PARLIAMENT
  • POLITICS
  • REGIONAL
 
 

InfoPages News Channels


 
 
 
 

Join Our Free Newsletter

Subscribe to Scoop’s 'The Catch Up' our free weekly newsletter sent to your inbox every Monday with stories from across our network.