Standoff over education standards policy deepens

Photo / Steven McNicholl

The standoff between schools and the Education Minister is growing with a further 200 principals refusing to attend training for the controversial national standards policy.

Education Minister Anne Tolley met 550 principals yesterday at their annual conference in Queenstown but pleas for them to get on with implementing national standards instead of "going to the media" and "making threats" appear to have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

Immediately after the minister's address, Principal's Federation vice-president Peter Simpson told the Weekend Herald while it was good Ms Tolley was prepared to keep talking with the sector, the general view was that national standards were not working and there was a need for change.

The federation believed the standards - which provide a national benchmark for reading, writing and maths - were "fundamentally flawed" and needed to be revised.

President Ernie Buutveld said after some "very serious consideration, and now some engagement with national standards", the concerns held a year ago had deepened.

As a result the federation plans to tell Ms Tolley the standards will not deliver the outcomes as intended and the only way forward is to urgently seek a complete revision of the standards system.

It also plans to advise the minister that the federation supports those regional associations that are no longer attending training.

Auckland and Southland Primary Principal Associations have in the past few weeks issued a recommendation to their principals to withdraw their attendance at national standards training because they say it only leaves staff more confused and trainers aren't able to answer all their questions.

After the minister's address yesterday, Canterbury decided to follow Auckland and Southland's lead, bringing the number of schools not participating in training to more than 600.

Canterbury Primary Principals Association president Denise Torrey said while she thanked the minister for coming, she "didn't address our concerns at all".

"Actually I think she was trying to appease us but I also felt she was threatening us."

That threat came from Ms Tolley's comments that public servants in other sectors were not able to talk to the media. Other principals said they took her comments about not talking to the media as failed intimidation attempts.

"What we want is a complete revision, let's go back to the start and have a look at the whole national standards, are they going to do what we want them to do - we don't think they are."

Ms Torrey said schools already knew if they had students who were not achieving. They did not need standards to tell them the same thing.

Ms Tolley said "boycotts and threats and resolutions" did not move the national standards debate on and she encouraged schools with concerns to contact her or the ministry instead.

BIG RED CROSSES
Teachers' gripes include:

* National standards wrongly assume that children are failing if they don't meet the standards.

* Repeated labelling of young children as "failures" could harm learning and motivation.

* Poorly worded standards will result in inconsistent and unreliable results.

* The way the results are reported publicly will create "league tables" comparing schools.