Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): It's an honour to again follow that member Erica Stanford on an education bill. Tonight is just getting better and better—one education bill after another. This is a Government who are absolutely committed to fixing nine years of inaction in our education system—nine years of not listening to teachers. We will listen to teachers and as we heard before we'll listen to students as well which is even better. I'd like to acknowledge Jenny Marcroft for bringing this bill to the House. I'd also like to acknowledge the work that Minister Tracey Martin did on this bill. As I said it's an honour to again speak about an education bill. What a great night we're having—hopefully the cricket improves though.Now when I'm out and about in the street I often have people come up to me former students—because as many in the House will know I used to be a teacher. They come up to me and they call me Mr Strange because they remember me as Mr Strange.Hon Andrew Little: Come on they've got other names for you.JAMIE STRANGE: Ha ha! Sure they do. Most of them are taller than me now but they still call me Mr Strange because there's that honour and there's the respect that they have for me as one of their teachers and there's always that close bond. This bill is about valuing the teaching profession. It's about putting teachers first. We've heard about charter schools. We heard about Vanguard Military School again and part of this bill is around charter schools because as we know charter schools don't have to employ registered teachers. We'll be working with Vanguard and other schools to come into the education system. But look when you go to a school like that sometimes you're not sure who is a teacher and who isn't so this is about providing clarity.We have heard about teacher shortages but if we value the profession if we esteem the profession we will have more people wanting to become teachers which will help with that teacher shortage. Let's for a moment here compare teachers with members of Parliament. So teachers train for three years sometimes four sometimes five. They train and they become qualified. I would question whether some MPs are truly qualified but people call us MPs—although in terms of qualifications the mighty tōtara over there the National member for Northland Matt King is definitely qualified. Mr King I think you should look at a leadership bid—just a bit of advice there.But getting back to the bill—getting back to the bill. This bill as I said is about valuing teachers. Can anyone teach? That's the key question we need to look at. Is teaching one of those professions where anyone can just get up in front of a class and teach? Or do you need the three years of training or four or however long it might be in order to be able to teach?So I'll just share a personal story. As many of you know obviously I used to be a teacher. I thought that teaching would be pretty easy. In my first practicum I stood up in front of the class and I gave a list of instructions for the students to do and none of them moved. I looked over at my associate teacher who was training me and the associate said Jamie even I don't know what you want them to do." So the point I'm making there is that there are certain skills required to be a teacher. There are certain skills that need to be learnt; you need it through training. Becoming a teacher is not just like opening a box of Weet-Bix and finding the cards in the bottom of the box and one of the cards says "teacher" and now all of a sudden I'm a teacher. It's more than that—it's more than that.A couple of teachers I've had in my life Mr DeGroen and Mr Crawford—unfortunately they've both passed on but they left a lasting legacy on my life. They were trained skilled teachers—they had to be to put up with me. So the crux of this issue is: what is a teacher? Can anyone be a teacher? Can anyone just stand up and be a teacher or is being a teacher something that you need specific training and specific qualifications for? This bill addresses that issue. This bill says that becoming a teacher is something that's to be valued it's something that has to be earned and not just anyone can be a teacher.Look I commend this bill to the House. I commend the value it places on our teaching profession and I look forward to hearing the other contributions. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker."