Todd Muller: Building communities of learning

Todd Muller MP for Bay of Plenty. Photo/John Borren

Surrounding yourself with the brightest minds is a proven path to bettering yourself.

That's the idea behind the Government's Communities of Learning initiative dedicated to raising student achievement. Seven Bay of Plenty schools will form two Communities of Learning where teachers and principals will meet and work together on challenges they identify for their children, such as maths or reading.

Countrywide there are 793 schools which have formed these clusters. This will affect around 250,000 of our kids.

The goal is to raise the quality of education by creating opportunities for principals and teachers to share what's working in their classrooms and how it can be applied to others. When it comes to improving education, who better to spearhead the process than those working on the frontline?

I look forward to seeing how the Communities of Learning develop and how this transforms the quality of education in our schools.