Green Party Education spokesperson Lawrence Xu-nan. Photo / VNP, Phil Smith
By Russell Palmer of RNZ
A primary teachers’ union says a last-minute amendment from the Education Minister places the Teaching Council under total ministerial control.
The Green Party says it is bad lawmaking and an ideologically driven undermining of the council’s independence.
Erica Stanford unveiled the changes to the Education and Training (System Reform) Amendment Bill, which was set for a Tuesday Committee of the Whole House debate in Parliament.
Stanford said the changes were aimed at improving the “effectiveness, accountability and public confidence in the Teaching Council”.
They included:
She said the changes followed a review by lawyer Debbie Francis, who Stanford appointed to the Teaching Council board in February, as well as a Public Service Commission inquiry into conflicts of interest and procurement processes.
“I am deeply concerned by the Francis Review finding that child safety is not clearly centred as the Council’s purpose, and that the Council lacks clarity in its role and does not appear to see itself as a system regulator,” Stanford said.
“The Public Service Commission inquiry found that the Council had significant flaws in governance and internal oversight, which led to serious shortcomings in the Council’s processes. These findings indicate the need for serious structural reform to build the Council’s capacity and make sure it is focused on its core business: protecting child safety and assuring quality teaching.”
In a statement, the primary teachers union NZEI Te Riu Roa said the moves marked a significant departure that would strip the council of its independence and place it under “total ministerial control”.
The changes also contradicted the advice from the Education Ministry, president Ripeka Lessels said.
“These changes dismantle the independence of the teaching profession’s regulatory body and were introduced with no prior consultation with the education sector,” Lessels said.
“This mirrors the same undemocratic process used by the Minister to remove Te Tiriti o Waitangi obligations from school boards under section 127 through a last-minute Amendment Paper.
“Losing guaranteed representation for early childhood education, primary, and secondary sectors is a massive step backward. Rushing these major changes through without asking teachers for feedback shows a complete lack of respect for our profession.”
However, Green Party Education spokesperson Lawrence Xu-nan said the moves undermined the council’s independence and the profession as a whole.
“We’ve seen the minister over the past few legislations whittle down the power of the Teaching Council, which is an independent body that is supposed to be in charge of anything from initial teacher education courses ... teacher registration, also disciplinary actions, etcetera.
“The minister has moved a lot of some of the functions under the secretary under the ministry, and now we’ve seen that she has just completely ripped away any remaining ounce of independence and voice from the sector from this particular body.”
He said before the coalition came to power, the Council had 13 members, seven of whom were elected by the sector.
“The Teaching Council – like the Nurses Council, like any other professional body and professional council – must remain independent and must not be politicised by any government. That’s how we can have a long and enduring public service system.
“Rather than teachers and the teaching council and initial teacher education using best evidence and best practice when it comes to the teaching profession based on international evidence, etc. They are now going to be all subsumed under this narrow scope of what any minister would consider to be best practice and evidence.”
He said having the amendment paper dropped the night before the Committee of the Whole stage removed any chance for consultation.
“It is fast and loose lawmaking, it is bad lawmaking, it is undemocratic,” he said.
“The last time this happened was the removal of the Te Tiriti or Waitangi treaty clauses in section 127 of the education and training amendment bill, and that has had obviously a long impact. Most recently, now we’ve just seen ... the Waitangi Tribunal has severely criticised the Crown for the way they went about the process of removing that particular section.”
“This is terrible law making. It just shows that the government and the minister is taking just a one-sided approach and completely undermining the democratic process of Aotearoa New Zealand, at the same time undermining the independence of the teaching council, as well as the sanctity and professionalism of the teaching profession.”
-RNZ