Learning Media Must Not Be Allowed to Fail

The Public Service Association says Learning Media should be brought back into the Ministry of Education before the government stands by and allows it to fail.

Learning Media has told the government it is struggling with a competitive market model and today the Finance Minister Bill English indicated the government would be prepared to let SOEs which are not financially viable, go under.

PSA National Secretary Brenda Pilott says while Learning Media hasn’t reached the tipping point yet, it is clearly having difficulty and its future viability is far from certain.

“It’s not surprising that Learning Media is struggling.  It’s a challenging environment for any company involved in publishing.”

“It was always a bad decision to turn Learning Media into a state owned enterprise and imposing a market driven model on it.  We are now seeing the consequences of that.”

The PSA believes that to ensure the future of Learning Media, consideration should be given to placing it back into the Ministry of Education.

“Learning Media is a small, lean organisation which would sit well back within the Ministry.  It would mean that the valuable work it does could continue, staff would be retained and skills and expertise would be not be lost,” Brenda Pilott says.

“It also means the future of the iconic School Journal would be assured.”

“Standing by and watching organisations like Learning Media fail is not an idea that the government should be allowed to entertain,” Brenda Pilott says.

ENDS

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