Luxton JoJO LUXTON (Labour): Thank you Mr Assistant Speaker. I for one am very very pleased to rise in support of this bill the Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill in the name of my colleague Jan Tinetti and I congratulate you Jan Tinetti. You are the first of our class of '17" to shepherd a bill right through the House and how appropriate that it is Jan Tinetti who has forwarded this bill through the House—Jan Tinetti who is passionate about education and passionate about children achieving in education; Jan who has many years of teaching and being a principal and this has been invaluable in seeing this bill go through the House. In fact we have heard that she has been working at the coalface as a teacher and principal for over 30 years.Hon Carmel Sepuloni: She must know a few things. JO LUXTON: We heard that earlier today. Yes you are right the Hon Carmel Sepuloni; she certainly does know a few things.I would like to touch on something that a previous speaker Simeon Brown mentioned earlier about this bill not really achieving much. One thing it achieves is changing how the Minister must consult. And we had Nicola Willis talking about something quite similar. Well actually I find that quite disheartening. But you know I'm not surprised that it comes from members opposite who actually have no respect for the teaching profession and do not understand how a bill like this is important and affects teachers and the teaching profession.We have heard that there are already provisions within legislation for the Minister to consult. Well actually when I think back to when the Hon Hekia Parata was Minister of Education I don't recall much consultation happening at all actually. So that is a null and void point actually. And when I've spoken to school principals about different pieces of legislation that we're putting through the House they've talked about the fact that quite frankly they didn't feel that they were respected and they certainly said that they felt really bullied by that previous Minister. So actually I think this bill is going to go a long way to lifting the teaching profession.I want to thank the Education and Workforce Committee for the work that's gone into this bill. I would also like to thank the submitters and we had 20 submitters come and submit to the select committee and they were very very favourable of this bill.This bill amends the Education Act 1989 to enable statements about the diversity of education provision to be included in the statement of National Education and Learning Priorities (NELPs). This bill is part of a wider 360 approach that this Government has to sit alongside the biggest reform that education will see in 30 years. It puts children back at the centre of learning. And I've sat back and I've reflected on the last 12 months of this Government and one of the things that I'm particularly proud of is that we are putting children at the heart of a lot of policy that we are putting in place. And quite frankly it's about time.It requires the Minister to make reasonable efforts to consult with various stakeholders in the development of NELPs. They include many different groups: teachers parents Māori education groups Pasifika education groups disability groups. But at the moment the minimum that the Minister must consult with is stakeholders with the early childhood education (ECE) sector and compulsory school sector and that gives just two perspectives. I'm not belittling those perspectives in any way but the fact that he must consult with these other groups now is going to provide a much fuller and better ability to put together NELPs.So we have all these different groups that are going to be consulted with and they all have different experiences and knowledge and are able to contribute in a positive and meaningful way with this legislation. So these groups actually represent different and important communities and actually pockets of society who are often forgotten about and not heard from. They have knowledge of their own sectors and what is important and what is needed in their sectors. And it underlines the collaborative approach that we are taking to reform education in New Zealand. Consulting with these groups will ensure and help to ensure actually that there are no unintended consequences further down the track and sometimes that can be what happens when consultation doesn't happen properly—unintended consequences.It's important that people have their say because this is a democracy and when people have their say then they become invested and we see that no one voice in this consultation process will be more important than another. So it's an equitable opportunity for people. For example when I think about the disability sector it's vitally important that they're consulted with if we are to support their learners with disabilities to participate confidently in our education sector. With respect to Pasifika education organisations we have a hugely fast-growing Pasifika community and population so we must provide opportunities for consultation with them. And if Pasifika communities are to be reflected in NELPs over the next five to 10 years or long term given the growing demographic New Zealand will see the benefits of that consultation.It is important to Government to consult because we value the teaching profession and education sector and their knowledge. We want to ensure that everyone has the opportunity for input and when I think about giving everyone the opportunity to input I reflect on early childhood centres when you have a teacher who has a specific philosophy and several others within that team who have their own individual teaching philosophies. When you come together and you sit around and consult with each other you create a centred philosophy and that creates a very rich work environment that's conducive to a fabulous curriculum good relationships with parents and good relationships with the children. So that's just one example of how consultation can work really well.We're committed to ensuring that we have a future-focused enduring strong world-leading education system. We are collaborative and this legislation shows that we are collaborative and inclusive as well and we value the input from communities and stakeholders. When we heard from as I said before around 20 submitters the majority were in favour of this bill.I was actually reassured when I heard from these submitters not only as a member of the select committee but as a member of Government that we are on the right track. I want to if I may refer to a submission from NZEI. They said "[They] welcome this because it gives students voice and agency in the process and recognises the critical contribution the knowledge and expertise the teaching profession will make to the priority-setting process." "Recognise" and "expertise of the teaching profession" are vital words here as far as I am concerned. We value teachers. We value their contribution. We trust them. This bill is about giving them the mana that they deserve.Jan Tinetti mentioned in her contribution earlier about the disconnect that she felt when she was in the teaching profession which is also something that I can relate to as an ECE teacher. And prior to coming into Parliament I was in the ECE sector for over 20 years so I can relate to that. Gone are the days of children being seen and not heard. And it's really simple. I want to give a really simple example of the kinds of outcomes that can be achieved if we listened to children and their voice. We often used to sit with children and ask them about the things they would like to learn at preschool and they would come up with some weird and wonderful ideas. But I want to give you a really basic example of a child that wanted to do baking.When you do baking with children they learn about hygiene turn taking socialising language skills critical thinking maths science sharing prior knowledge making connections between home and centre and healthy eating. Now that is a very simple example but it shows just how rich the curriculum can be when children are consulted on how they want to learn and what they want to learn about.In New Zealand it's important we have a strong equitable education system. This is fundamental to our children achieving success throughout their schooling life and beyond. And I just want to again congratulate you Jan and I highly recommend this bill to the House."