12. KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) Link to this
to the Minister of Education
Does she stand by all of her answers to Oral Question No 8 yesterday?
Hon ANNE TOLLEYWhat does the Minister make of the fact that 533, or over a quarter, of 1,922 analysed school charters are non-compliant?
Well, the ministry is assessing those charters on a variety of criteria, and it is working with schools to develop their charters so that they are compliant.
Sue MoroneyAre there schools that have refused to submit their charters by the 1 July deadline, as well as the 533 schools whose charters are non-compliant; if so, how many?
I would not have any way of knowing whether a school has refused to do that. That is asking for an opinion, and I do not have access to information about it. But I can say to that member that of the so-called rebel schools that submitted their charters—about 437—338 of their charters have been analysed and almost half of those did contain national standards targets.
Does she still intend to take control of schools away from parents by putting in a statutory manager if they do not comply with her national standards policy?
No, we are working with schools that may be breaking the law, in a variety of ways, helping them to understand that they are, in fact, breaking the law, and making sure that they have every assistance to comply with that law.
Does she think the stand-off she has created between her and 533 school communities is beneficial to the education of New Zealand children?
The member’s assertion is incorrect, because, as I have said, the criteria that the ministry is using to assess those charters as being compliant are much wider than just whether they have targets that go against national standards. What I can say is that there are over 2,000 primary schools, and the majority of those are implementing the standards. In fact, I was at a school this morning where it was said to me that, already, the school could see that using national standards targets had lifted the achievement of its students. That is what this Government is all about: we are about getting results for kids, not about creating stand-offs with unions.