Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 05 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15294. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]8.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to theMinister of Education: Is she satisfied that the Government’s policies are providing every student with the opportunities they need to achieve to their full potential?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): I am satisfied that we are making progress in many areas but I will not be fully satisfied until five out of five young New Zealanders are getting the opportunities to achieve their full potential. That is why our Government has been investing in and delivering on a plan to better engage with parents report on achievement data value and strengthen the teaching profession and support 21st century learning environments.Chris Hipkins: Is she satisfied that all students in New Zealand are being given a fair go at education given the OECD study released this week that showed that 32 percent of the decline in our maths scores 72 percent of the fall in our reading scores and 41 percent of the fall in our science scores can be linked to demographic change and particularly increasing inequality?Hon HEKIA PARATA: The analysis of the OECD report the elements of which the member has referred to culminates in a final result that says that of all of the factors that contribute to our rankings 18 percent is linked to socio-economic status and 82 percent is linked to the quality of teaching and leadership to the presence and engagement of students and to factors such as tardiness. So yes New Zealand does have a correlation between underachievement and low socio-economic status. Itamounts to 18 percent based on the OECD results. As AndreasSchleicher the designer and the manager of the Programme for International Student Assessment said on Radio New Zealand National this morning New Zealand does have this challenge but it also has a record of schools teaching past that challenge. Other countries also face this challenge and in the Programme for International Student Assessment study it is clear that they have become better at teaching to change this situation. As he said poverty is not destiny.Chris Hipkins: Given her acknowledgment that inequality does play a role in educational inequality is she satisfied that all students in New Zealand are being given a fair go at education given the study released this week that shows that the number of students defined as having a low economic social and cultural status had increased by 34 percent during this Government’s watch?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am satisfied that our over 2500 schools are doing their very best to meet all of the challenges including those students who come from homes that face difficulties. My colleague who has already spoken comprehensively in the House this afternoon has indicated the wide range of initiatives that our Government is investing in out of school. In addition within schools we have Social Workers in Schools. We have nurses in schools. We offer breakfasts to those schools that wish to take them up and 536 schools have taken up that breakfast in schools offer but not all have. But the sheer fact of the matter is that it is education that can moderate that background and our challenge is to raise the quality of teaching across all schools so that every young person gets the chance of a better education.Chris Hipkins: Given that answer is she satisfied that all students attempting the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) are given a level playing field given that 2169 students with special learning needs in decile 8 decile 9 and decile 10 schools—our richest schools—received additional assistance with their NCEA exams last year while only 73 students at decile 1 and decile 2 schools received the same level of assistance?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am not satisfied with that and that is why I have asked the New Zealand Qualifications Authority to investigate how we can ensure that there is greater equity of access for all schools. The obstruction to this is the psych report that is required in order to have access to the tools that will assist. That is exactly the process that we are in the middle of doing and I expect that this will be available for all schools next year. No school is precluded from applying for access to that tool. What is clear is that we have to give greater assistance to those schools in order for them to take up the application process and we are working on that.Chris Hipkins: How many additional students in low-decile schools low socio-economic areas received that level of support for the NCEA exams this year as compared with last year?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I do not have that detail to hand but I am happy to find it for the member. What I do know is—[Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order!Hon HEKIA PARATA: No one is barred from applying for these tools but schools are not applying for them because they are unable to meet the entry requirements and now that we know that we are working with those schools to overcome that obstacle. So this—Mr SPEAKER: Order! Order! The question has been adequately answered.