9. KATHERINE RICH (National) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
What proportion of students leaving school in 2006 left without a qualification?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA (Associate Minister of Education) Link to this
The number of students leaving school without completing National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 1 decreased from 28 percent in 2005 to 24 percent in 2006. Even more significantly, the number of students leaving school with little formal attainment or none at all halved between 1999 and 2006. There is still a lot of work to do, but we are making progress.
Can the Minister confirm that last year over 14,000 students left school with no formal qualification—which means they did not get even NCEA level 1—and that in pockets of New Zealand the figures are worse, such as Kawerau and the Buller District, where one in two students left school without any qualification whatsoever?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
As I have already said, there is a lot of work to do. This Government is committed to decreasing the number of students who leave school with no qualification. However, we should not just assume that a student who has left school has not gone to some other form of learning.
Dianne YatesHon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Māori students are showing significant improvements. The number of Māori students leaving school with little or no formal attainment is down from 40 percent in 1996, when National were in Government—and Tau Henare was there—to 25 percent in 2005. In 2006 more Māori school-leavers were qualified to enter university than ever before. There is still a lot of work to do, but we are making progress.
How can the Minister stand there and crow about small successes when it is still the case that over 46 percent of young Māori leave school with absolutely nothing?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
That is correct. In a strong economy, that happens to children of manual labourers. They grew up in the 1990s, when their families were totally benefit dependent; all they saw was their parents getting their income from benefits. What has happened in the strong economy is that those young people are running to get an income. We are trying to make sure that they get skilled and get qualifications as they go.
How can the Minister stand and defend his Government’s record in education, when one in three children leaves primary school not able to add or subtract at the level expected of those of their chronological age, and when 25 percent of kids leave school with absolutely no qualification to their name, whatsoever?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Easily; the improvements have been quite dramatic. The percentage of year 11 students achieving the literacy requirement has risen from 70.6 percent in 2003 to 75.8 percent in 2006. It was a lot lower in the 1990s. The percentage of year 11 students achieving the numeracy requirement has risen from 74.5 percent in 2003 to 82.9 percent in 2006.
How can the Minister say that the success is dramatic, when one in three children leaves our primary schools not able to add, subtract, multiply, or divide at anywhere near the level expected of those of their chronological age, and is not that what all parents in this country expect for their children after 6 years at primary school?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
Quite easily, because the results speak for themselves. Children learn in different ways and in different times.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
Is it not a fact that when there is an average, there is a group below that average, and is it not a great thing—
Hon Bill EnglishHon Trevor Mallard Link to this
We have representatives of the below-average group sitting opposite. Is it not time that New Zealanders were proud that their children are in the top group of the OECD for reading, for maths, and for science, and would it not have been good if the National Government had put in the investment, so that the rest of our economy was that way, too?
Hon PAREKURA HOROMIA Link to this
That is definitely correct. There are other percentages that mirror the great progress made by this Government. When the Labour-led Government came in—led by Helen Clark, not by John Key—the unemployment rate was 21.4 percent. It is now tracking down to 5 percent. Māori can go to work, earn an income, and get a better life.
Hon Tau HenareI seek leave to table a document that shows that 46 percent of Māori boys leave with nothing, and 42 percent of Māori girls leave—
Madam SPEAKER