Hipkins Chris: Education Amendment Bill — In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Hipkins Chris: Education Amendment Bill — In Committee 
[Sitting date: 24 March 2010. Volume:661;Page:9828. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) 
: 
 I will make three main points in this debate on Part 1 and a few other points later if time allows. First I will go back to the comments that the Minister made earlier and underscore one of the points that my colleague Grant Robertson raised about the importance of personal relationships between a limited statutory manager or a commissioner and the school community they are there for. I will go a little bit wider than that to talk about the issue of one school board temporarily taking over another school board. I guess I stress some caution in the potential for the damage that could exist in relationships between schools if an environment were created where a school that was struggling was seen to be potentially threatened with a takeover by another nearby school albeit even on a temporary basis. I can think of a couple of schools in my electorate that are struggling and that have much stronger schools— 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: Far too many schools in that electorate. 
CHRIS HIPKINS 
: I know Trevor Mallard did his best to try to reduce the number of schools in the electorate but there are still a few schools in my electorate that are struggling and that have schools reasonably close by that are much stronger. I think one of the worst things for those struggling schools would be an implied threat if you like that they would be taken over by the stronger schools. There are all sorts of reasons why that would not be the right outcome for the community and why that could potentially create more issues if the matter were not treated very carefully and done in the right manner. That is one of the reasons I think that the amendment was made at the select committee to prevent a school board from taking on the role of a commissioner or limited statutory manager - type function for another school. The committee prevented that from happening and I think that that was a very sensible thing for it to do. I have spoken to school principals in my area who have been the subject of limited statutory management and they have really emphasised to me the importance of that personal relationship. There would be real reluctance on the part of schools to see that function taken on by a corporate or a company rather than by an individual with whom they could form a relationship. 
The second point I raise is about the importance of career counselling. I speak particularly in favour of an amendment put forward by my colleague Grant Robertson which would require school principals to ensure that schools provide guidance and counselling on career choices and career pathways. I think that as we have seen in Parliament—just yesterday in fact—there are significant risks when people embark on a course of study without knowing fully what they are getting themselves into and without being fully prepared. For example I am aware of a student who undertook 3 years of study—11 papers—and in fact passed only three of those. That issue was well canvassed in the Chamber yesterday because it concerned Steven Joyce somebody who is known very well to members. Had there been adequate guidance and counselling prior to that course of study being undertaken perhaps Steven Joyce might have had a little bit more success in his course of study. That is something that I think all students should have access to particularly in an environment where the Government is talking about increasing the penalties and sanctions for students who do not successfully complete their courses of study and about reducing their ability to re-enrol. Making sure that students are going into courses with their eyes wide open whatever courses of study they are going into following school is really important. Adequate counselling on their career choices and pathways and on their potential options for future courses of study is really important. 
The amendment put forward in the name of my colleague Grant Robertson is a very important one. It restores an amendment that was part of the original bill put forward by the previous Labour Government. Most of the amendments in this bill put forward by Anne Tolley in fact pick up those earlier amendments but that one was not picked up. Grant Robertson’s amendment puts the provision back in and that is really important. 
Another amendment that Grant Robertson has put forward clarifies to a much greater extent the functions of a school board of trustees. That is really important too and I do not think there could be any legitimate argument to say why the functions of a school board of trustees should not be enshrined in legislation: for example as in new section 60AA(1)(b) which is inserted by new clause 16A: “ensuring that education is provided to each student enrolled at the school:”. There can be nothing more fundamental than a school board of trustees making sure that education is provided to the students enrolled at that school. I do not see any legitimate argument to say that that is not something that should be specifically enshrined in legislation.