Peachey Allan: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Peachey Allan: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:651;Page:586] 
ALLAN PEACHEY (National—Tamaki) 
: 
 The young member for Rimutaka Chris Hipkins should fire his speech-writer because that speech will come back to haunt him in his time in this House and on the streets of his electorate. 
I take a moment to acknowledge my former colleague Mr Davis. I know Mr Davis to have been a school principal of the highest integrity. I had the great privilege of spending time with him in the far north visiting the school that he led and talking to him at great length about the nature of school leadership and how children learn. I can affirm as correct everything he said about the success of that school. I would like to say to that member that in this place it can be very very difficult for members to retain their integrity in respect of issues like education but the price they pay for doing so is one that is well worth paying. I would express the hope that within the member’s caucus the wisdom and the experience—and the common views that we share—will be heard. 
I will address issues raised by the former Minister of Education Mr Mallard. I spent years thinking that the reason the former Prime Minister dumped him as Minister of Education must have been that he jackbooted his way across the country kicking communities and schools. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe the Prime Minister recognised that his thinking in education was so backward-looking that even she could not retain him in that position and he demonstrated that backward-thinking tonight to perfection. What did he want to talk about? He talked about progressive achievement tests and national averages. 
In this debate when we are talking about setting national standards for literacy and numeracy it is important that we understand very very clearly some differences. There is assessing a child against a standard which is what we do now through the National Certificate of Educational Achievement. We tell children “Here is what you need to be able to do and as many of you as can do that get the standard and as many of you who cannot do it do not get the standard.” Members who want to keep talking about national averages are more concerned with statistical movements than whether children actually know anything or not. I would have thought that the former Minister would have understood that but in effect what he said reminds this House of just how far we have to go to make people in this House and in the education sector understand the significance of standards. I am sure the previous Minister of Education knows exactly what I am saying—and now I am referring to Mr Chris Carter obviously not to Mr Mallard. 
This is about children who through no fault of their own are not learning to read write or do mathematics to the minimum level required for them to find a contributing positive place in a society and in an economy. Right through the debate today in my view there has been insufficient acknowledgment of that fact. 
I listened with great care to the Green view on all of this. 
Metiria Turei 
: No you did not. You didn’t listen to it at all! 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Well I shouted a little bit and I am sorry about that. There are still parliamentarians representing parties in this House who do not understand that the single most significant driver to get children out of poverty is the quality of education they receive—and the previous Minister of Maori Affairs sitting opposite will understand that in terms of the constituency that he represented—and who are still prepared to tolerate unchallenged all of these social and economic excuses that adults make and that children do not need them to make. 
The statement in this bill about national standards is the statement of the National Government supported by our colleagues that the language around children’s learning and success must change. I am very very troubled and I suspect that my former colleague Mr Davis is equally troubled by the very seriously diminished view of schoolteachers that has been taken by some of the members opposite who have spoken particularly the young member from Rimutaka. All of this talk about teachers teaching to the test and all the rest of it is frankly offensive. People like me have spent 32 years teaching under a secondary school system where we taught youngsters to pass examinations. During the 16-odd years that I headed schools I knew that the performance of the school that I led would be ranked on the front pages of the newspaper in my community without fail. I had to manage that. That is how it is. 
If we listen very very closely to the arguments members opposite are putting up against national standards we find that one of the critical things they are saying is in effect that we must keep this stuff from parents. 
Hon Members 
: No no. 
ALLAN PEACHEY 
: Opposition members need to go away and look at just how accessible truthful information about the performance of schools is to parents. One of the great things about having national standards is that there will be a clear standard and parents will know whether they are sending their children to a school where children learn. Members should just remember that this is not about teachers it is not about educational theory and it is not about left-wing researchers overseas. It is about our children and their future.