Postpone national standards, say heads

Anne Tolley. Photo / Herald on Sunday

Principals think national standards should be delayed so teachers can come to terms with next year's new curriculum.

Ernie Buutveld, the president of the New Zealand Principals' Federation which represents 2300 principals, said delaying the standards would be a "great step forward".

It was too much to expect teachers to prepare for both the curriculum overhaul and the literacy and numeracy standards set by the Government, he said.

"The sector has been calling to have standards delayed for as long as we possibly can because of course, if we are going to have our attention and energy diverted to national standards, the curriculum may have to be put aside yet again and frankly the curriculum comes first, the standards come second."

President of the Auckland Primary Principals' Association Marilyn Gwilliam said her organisation had also been lobbying for a delay to the standards.

"We are really concerned about the timing, we feel they have been rushed through," she said.

But Minister of Education Anne Tolley defended the standards and said parents had also made it clear they supported them.

"[The standards] will deliver information in plain English about their child's progress in literacy and numeracy from next year."

She said the majority of the sector was working constructively with the Government.

And schools had been told they did not have to begin submitting data to the Ministry of Education until 2012, against targets set in their 2011 charters.

Information about professional development and support opportunities for teachers and principals is due to be released next month.

Lorraine Kerr, head of the School Trustees Association, backed the national standards as a "warts and all" method of showing how students are performing within their classrooms and nationally.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education yesterday said it was pleased with the progress of schools in preparing for the new curriculum to be introduced at the start of the next school year.

Only 2 per cent of secondary schools and 7 per cent of primary schools were considered ready to launch the new curriculum in the Education Review Office (ERO) report.

However, Secretary of Education Karen Sewell said the report indicated progress since January.

"These figures, while very low, are of concern to the ministry and will need more focused support before the end of this year."

Ms Sewell said the report showed 98 per cent of almost 300 primary and secondary schools surveyed were under way in preparing to implement national standards.

The chief executive of ERO, Graham Stoop, said the Government monitoring body was also pleased with the results of the report.

Mr Stoop said many schools were using the literacy and numeracy initiatives as part of the planning and implementation of the curriculum.

He encouraged schools to make use of resource material available and said the date of implementation in February 2010 was not the end of the process as curriculum development in schools was "organic and cyclical".

Kate Gainsford, the president of secondary teachers' union the Post Primary Teachers' Association, said the organisation had stated for a long time that there was a "poor systemic response to [schools'] implementation needs".

She said this was symptomatic of a prevailing ethos "that flicks responsibility back to schools again and again".

To prevent a "hotch-potch" delivery, schools needed good guidance and time to complete all the necessary paperwork.