RAHUI KATENE (Māori Party—Te Tai Tonga) Link to this
I am pleased to take a call on the third reading of the Education Amendment Bill. In many respects this is a catch-up bill, which addresses some legislative loopholes and policy glitches that have arisen from a host of issues raised in the last few years. It is also an opportunity to update certain outdated provisions. In its scope, the bill provides the means to deal with unregistered teachers, incompetent boards, or issues impacting on the safety and well-being of students.
The Māori Party has a keen interest in addressing educational participation and performance, and, as such, supports any initiatives that seek to raise a school’s expectations about the achievements of all of its students. Our focus has been on a range of other measures, such as promoting whānau engagement, reducing teacher-student ratios, increasing professional development for teachers—particularly in cultural competency—and in giving the opportunity to incentivise and reward schools that reduce underachievement and disengagement. In that context, the chance both to improve the safety of children, and to reduce compliance costs for schools, is something that we fully support. We also support any initiatives that create improvements in respect of the well-being and education of students.
The focus of this bill, with regard to the suitability of teachers or other staff for employment in a school, is an important one. We are also pleased that increased scrutiny has been introduced to ensure that non-teaching staff will be vetted before they have unsupervised access to children. These are important safeguards to keep our children safe.
But I want to digress and share with this House a wonderful initiative, as a way of providing a broader context in which to consider this bill. This year a Māori immersion class is being piloted at Dunedin North Intermediate, at the southern end of the Te Tai Tonga electorate. The class, Ka Puanani o te Reo, meets on Tuesdays with one teacher and a resource teacher of Māori to provide an integrated programme around language development, reading, writing, art activities, and music. The distinctive feature of this class is that it is a unique initiative in partnership with whānau, schools, Ngāi Tahu, and the Ministry of Education. But the spirit of cooperation extends even further, reaching out to welcome students from schools right across the Dunedin community.
I wanted to share that initiative because it is an example of schools with a deep commitment to the best interests of their students. It is a model of schools working together. It is a model where success and achievement are intimately linked in the effective participation of all students. So often in this House we focus on failure and flaws rather than on breeding success. It is perhaps timely to consider that in the context of this bill, which tidies up areas of neglect in the current legislation.
Notwithstanding that, I acknowledge that the changes made in this bill are made in response to concerns raised by schools, early childhood education services, contractors, and commentators such as the Children’s Commissioner. We welcome the moves to improve the safety of children, and to reduce compliance costs for schools. We understand that the amendments specifically to do with police vetting have been tested internationally in the United States, England, Canada, and Australia, and have been found to provide an effective safeguard for child safety. It is, however, disappointing to note that although the amendments were discussed with a wide range of education sector organisations—such as the School Trustees Association, the Principals Federation, the Secondary Principals’ Association, the Post Primary Teachers Association, the New Zealand Educational Institute, and the early childhood advisory committee—there were two notable omissions from the consultation process: Te Kōhanga Reo National Trust and Te Rūnanganui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa. Legislative changes that impact positively on the well-being and education of students, including those about the suitability of teachers or other staff for employment at a school, are of utmost importance to all schools, and that includes schools in Māori immersion settings.
Finally, I support the intention of the bill to promote an expectation that registered teachers will be teaching, and that responsible people will be working in close proximity to children. The Māori Party is happy to support this bill.
NIKKI KAYE (National—Auckland Central) Link to this
I rise to speak on the Education Amendment Bill. I acknowledge the Minister of Education for bringing this bill to the House. I will briefly mention that I support this bill because it ensures that the children of New Zealand are safer, and it reduces compliance costs. I commend this bill to the House.
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) Link to this
I rise to speak to the third reading of the Education Amendment Bill. I note three points, of which two are in the bill and one is missing. The two items in the bill that I wish to draw attention to, which Labour supports completely, relate to the provisions on police vetting and the provision relating to information matching between the New Zealand Teachers Council and the Ministry of Education to identify individuals teaching in schools without registration. Both items go to the heart of the quality of teaching in schools and the safety of the students who receive that teaching. So both items are critical.
The third item, however, is absent from the bill. I am sorry for that. The Labour Government had proposed an Education Amendment Bill (No 3).