Takeover powers for elite schools

National wants to create elite "trust schools" that would have the power to take over weaker schools as part of a sweeping package of education reforms.

The party also promises to bring in national reading and maths standards for 7-year-olds, who would be tested to see if they were making the grade, and would get vouchers for extra tuition if they were struggling.

The plans were outlined yesterday by leader Don Brash in an education speech - his fourth major policy speech since becoming leader.

Education promises to be one of the most contentious election issues and National is hoping to capitalise on the crisis of confidence over the NCEA, the scholarship exams and the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

Dr Brash said a National Government would overhaul the NCEA system, return to bulk funding of schools, reduce the power of education unions and slash education bureaucracy.

"Failure must be reported. If we don't report failed standards, then we can't begin to work out why failure occurred and how it can be fixed."

During his speech at Westlake Girls High School, Dr Brash said "trust schools" - schools which performed outstandingly - would be run by community trusts, with complete control over their finances, including the ability to borrow and take over weaker nearby schools.

Individual schools would be able to set teachers' pay.

The PPTA last night criticised National for trying to resurrect "failed educational policies" and described the policies as an attack on the integrity of the public education system. Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope said National's policies would take education back a decade and Act education spokeswoman Deborah Coddington described it as watery policy that did not offer parents real choice.

Principals' Federation president Pat Newman said the plans proved National had little understanding of what was happening in schools.

In his speech Dr Brash attacked the NCEA, which he said was threatening to betray a generation of children.

Dr Brash slammed the "shambolic" implementation of the new qualification system as one of the most spectacular failures of the Labour Government and said it needed dramatic changes to make it effective.

He said National would undertake a complete overhaul of the NCEA - not just "fine-tuning or tinkering" - with the advice of educational experts.

The party would also dump the controversial scholarship exams and replace them with a "high-stakes" external exam.

Dr Brash said National would return to bulk funding, giving schools a single grant to cover salaries and operational costs.

But PPTA president Debbie Te Whaiti said that was ignoring the views of the vast majority of teachers and school boards who opposed it in the 1990s.

Mr Benson-Pope said the bulk-funding of the 1990s failed students and created a destructive competitive model.

National also plans to provide more schooling choice by removing Labour's "rigid zoning restrictions", although not completely.

- additional reporting: Stuart Dye