Alliance Party media release for immediate release Wednesday 29 August 2007

Alliance backs teachers defence of public education system

Alliance education spokesperson Richard Wallis says that the Alliance fully supports New Zealand’s secondary teachers in their decision to hold a one day strike on 12 September.

"The working conditions of teachers are the learning conditions of students in our schools today."

He says the offers by the Labour government to the PPTA show the "knowledge economy" is a meaningless slogan.

Mr Wallis, who is a secondary teacher, says parents and teachers have been calling for smaller classes for some time now yet the Government refuses to discuss class sizes.

He says it is impossible to provide quality, personalised learning in a class of 30 or more students.

"The Alliance policy is to have a maximum class size of 20 and we will provide the staff and resources to meet this," says Mr. Wallis.

Mr Wallis says only by addressing class size can we hope to improve the learning conditions of New Zealand’s youth.

He says this is the time to make a significant investment in the future of this country.

"New Zealand is on the verge of a major teacher shortage, yet instead of giving all children a top quality education, the Government has chosen to ignore the problem in the hope perhaps that it will go away."

ENDS

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