10. KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
Does she still stand by her comments reported in the New Zealand Herald on 1 August 2009 in relation to national standards, in particular where she says that the system would not force teachers to meet a single predetermined standard as in the United States and Britain?
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) Link to this
No, because that is not a direct quote from me. National standards will provide nationally consistent benchmarks that will assist teachers to make judgments about a student’s progress and achievement in literacy and numeracy. Teachers will continue to use evidence from a range of sources to inform their teaching and learning programmes.
How will the Minister expect teachers to report to parents in plain English whether their child has met a national standard that is not set at a specific level, and will this not just add to parents’ confusion as to whether their child is achieving to the level he or she should?
I say to that member, Kelvin Davis, that if he were to look at some of the suggestions that were put in front of parents and educators during the consultation period and were to hear the comments from the many parents who took part in that consultation process, he would see that they are very clear that the standards will be of huge assistance to them as parents in understanding what are the strengths and weaknesses of their children.
Colin KingNational standards are being introduced to provide clear expectations for children at primary school, and to provide parents with simple, plain language explanations of their children’s progress. That is what the parents tell us they want, and that is what we are providing. Parents want to be involved in their children’s education, and to do that they need to know how their child is progressing.
What is the point in just showing progress against the standard, as the Minister stated in the New Zealand Herald, when the rate of progress towards a standard is more important, but neither are of any use if a teacher does not know where the standard sits in the first place?
The national standards will provide very clear expectations of just what progress a student needs to make, and the formative assessment by the teacher that takes place in the classroom will provide good results showing the progress that a child is making against those standards.
In relation to the Minister’s answer, can she explain what her understanding of formative assessment is?