New support system for schools announced

Minister of Education Anne Tolley. Photo / Daily Post

Schools are going to get support from education specialists who will help children struggling with reading, writing and maths, Education Minister Anne Tolley says.

She announced today a three-part programme which is a follow-up to the introduction of national standards involving:

* Expert practitioners appointed to work with schools, helping them identify and access the resources they need to help their students;

* The $36 million allocation announced in last year's budget to support national standards will be used over four years to deliver special teaching for children;

* Teacher development will be redesigned, with organisations able to bid for funding out of the existing $86m a year that goes into it.

Prime Minister John Key and Mrs Tolley announced the programmes at a press conference today.

"This is designed to lift literacy and numeracy, that's why we introduced national standards," Mr Key said.

"Our young people will not prosper without proper support in place and this is one important step in that direction."

Mrs Tolley said principals and teachers had told her they wanted direct assistance and she had instructed the ministry to change the way it operated.

"Expert practitioners from the ministry and the education sector will be appointed to work closely with schools and build strong relationships," Mrs Tolley said.

"These experts will have proven ability in lifting student achievement and will give specially designed support to schools to meet the specific needs of their students and teachers."

Mrs Tolley said the $36 million allocated for national standards in last year's budget would go towards new intervention programmes being developed for students who needed extra support in reading, writing and maths "over and above good classroom teaching".

"National standards will help us identify which children are struggling and this next stage in the process will help schools to get these students back on track," she said.

Mrs Tolley has also told the ministry to redesign its approach to professional development for principals and teachers.

"The Government invests $86 million a year in this area and we need to make it much more targeted to ensure it helps schools lift student achievement," she said.

A range of organisations would be able to bid for funding to supply professional development, with the ministry selecting providers.

At least 50 specialists will initially be used for the new support system for schools, from within the ministry or appointed from the education sector if it can't find enough of its own.

Mrs Tolley admitted they would be spread thinly over primary schools but said it was "just a start" and she believed they would make a real difference.

The change in approach will be funded from the existing education budget and is expected to cost between $10 million and $12m a year.

Mrs Tolley said she had no advice from the ministry about whether there would be any job cuts. It was up to the ministry to manage its resources, she told reporters.

The primary teachers' union, NZEI, said the Government should have focused on the initiatives it announced today "at the beginning" rather than wasting money on national standards.

"We will want assurances that this new team of Education Ministry achievement specialists which will be going into schools is not simply a national standards SWAT team bent on compliance checks around implementation of the standards," said NZEI president Frances Nelson.

- NZPA