Visionary Education Policy Not So New

media release

Monday 10 SEPTEMBER 2012

Visionary Education Policy Not So New

Maxim Institute Senior Researcher Steve Thomas says Labour leader David Shearer’s speech yesterday outlined a policy that is contradictory.

“Shearer said his party would make National Standards optional, as it is worried about a school teaching to the standards, at the expense of other parts of the curriculum, says Thomas.

“However, Labour wants to introduce plain language school report cards for parents, which would not avoid this potential problem.”

“There is effectively little difference between Labour’s policy and the Government’s National Standards because both rightly want to hold schools accountable for their performance,” says Thomas.

“Labour are wanting to do away with standards, but it is difficult to see how school performance would be measured without some sort of target to compare against.

“Whether or not Labour likes it, parents will compare schools in their area. Both parties should focus on providing parents with a rounded set of information about school performance which families could use to make this judgement.”

ENDS

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