Teachers seek transparency over government education agenda

Teachers seek transparency over government education agenda

NZEI Te Riu Roa is calling on the government to either confirm or deny radical plans over school funding.

National President Judith Nowotarski says the funding proposals hinted at by the Minister of Education, Hekia Parata, would increase inequity and be extremely damaging for struggling children and those from poorer communities.

She says it’s time for the government to be upfront about its real agenda for education.

“Using narrow test results as a measuring stick for school funding would punish the very children who need support the most.

“Once again the government seems to be following failed overseas experiments, particularly from the United States, where these policies have led to an increase in the number of charter schools and greater educational inequality.

“We need more transparency from this government. Over the past few years we’ve seen a whole suite of ideologically-driven changes leading to increased privatisation and competition between schools.”

Last year Treasury advised the government to hide its real overall education agenda "while making smaller incremental changes in a less high profile manner across a range of fronts".

Treasury advised using themes such as "supporting quality teaching" and "measuring performance to focus support" to communicate change while more harder-edged changes be pursued in parallel, incrementally and without significant profile.

“We call on the government to tell New Zealanders what the real plan is now, instead of waiting until after the election.”

ENDS

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