8. Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Labour—Hutt South) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
Does she stand by her reported statement in regard to national standards that “criticism has been based on misinterpretations”?
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) Link to this
Yes, and I am pleased that so many teachers and principals are engaging with the national standards rather than misinterpretations of them.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
Does she accept that if a newspaper now asks two schools for their results, it can publish a local league table?
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
How, then, can she explain the Prime Minister’s comments to Pita Sharples that league tables could not be published under national standards for at least 2 years?
I was not at the meeting that took place between the Prime Minister and Minister Sharples, but the Government—and Minister Sharples repeated this earlier in the House—will not be publishing league tables.
Allan PeacheyI have received a report from the Ministry of Education that states that so far 81 percent of schools have registered for, or participated in, the first round of workshops on the implementation of national standards. That is 4,695 principals and teachers, representing 1,759 schools. That is an excellent response, and it shows that teachers, as professionals, are getting on with the job of implementing national standards.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
Who is responsible for the misinterpretation of the fact that those workshops have been described as being fully funded, when schools have to pay over $200 a day for a reliever to replace the staff member and pay the travel costs as well?
It is interesting that the Labour Party does not even want there to be training on national standards.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It was a simple question: who was responsible for that misinterpretation?
Mr SPEAKERI accept the member’s point of order. The Minister should not commence a perfectly reasonable question with a gratuitous comment.
Professional development worth $26 million is being made available to teachers, at their request, for training on the national standards. It is perfectly normal practice for schools to fund relievers.
Hon Trevor Mallard Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. It was again a very simple, easy question to answer. It asked who was responsible for the statement that the workshops were fully funded. The Minister knows that she made that statement. She should admit it to the House.
The last bit of that point of order was out of order. The member knows that. He has been in this House long enough to know that he cannot make that kind of accusation or comment under a point of order. I am not sure why he expects me to be terribly sympathetic to his point of order when he does that. In my view, the Minister did answer the question. She pointed out what “fully funded” means in normal circumstances for teacher professional development. Other people may have a different view of what it means, but that seems to me to be what the Minister was saying. The member has further supplementary questions available should he wish to ask one.