Calder Cam: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeCalder Cam: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee[Sitting date: 17 June 2014. Volume:699;Page:18569. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Dr CAM CALDER (National):It is a great pleasure to take a call on the Teachers Council. Delivering changes to meet the needs of 21st century children and young people and a system that focuses on lifting achievement and getting the best outcomes for our young people is a crucial part of this Government’s concentration on the education field. Of course it is also an important part of any Crown entity such as Careers New Zealand the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and the Teachers Council that is involved in the education space. What does the future hold? All our entities need to be aware. They need to be flexible in their thinking and shift their thinking in response to the changing global and digital environments we are working in.The Ministry of Education has been working with the Crown entities to make sure they are doing the right things in the right way to support the system that exists and to get the best outcomes for our young people. There does have to be change. That is clear. The Government has a relentless focus on raising achievement for all children and young people. It has been said in this House before but it is worth repeating again that if we keep on doing the same old things then we will get the same old results. That is not what we in this Government are prepared to do. We want to lift achievement for all New Zealanders.With our Better Public Services target we have nailed our colours to the mast. We want to have 85 percent of all 18-year-olds with a National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 or better or an equal qualification to ensure that our young people have the qualifications they need to be successful. At the secondary school level we have invested in a number of flexibilities around funding and timetabling to support students to make choices of pathways. Careers New Zealand helps students plan and guide themselves through their learning work journey so that every child can achieve educational success. The other Crown entity if I just briefly mention the New Zealand Qualifications Authority is ensuring that New Zealand qualifications are valued as credible and robust both nationally and internationally.But let us concentrate on the Teachers Council. A key part of the Government’s plan to raise achievement for all is our commitment to strengthen and value the teaching profession in the 21st century—to strengthen and increase the way the teaching profession is valued in the 21st century. As my colleague Chris Hipkins observed currently before the Education and Science Committee we have got the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) on which we have heard many hundreds of submissions over previous months in Christchurch Wellington and Auckland. This committee often sat three four or five times during a particular week to ensure that we could hear the submitters who wished to be heard. Currently we are considering the Education Amendment Bill (No 2) and this will make a number of legislative changes to the profession including transforming the Teachers Council into the Education Council of Aotearoa New Zealand or EDUCANZ.There is overwhelming international evidence of the critical role that teachers play in educating children and young people. We know it is a tripod: you have got the school you have got the child and you have got the home. It is a tripod: the school with all the teachers in it; the home and we are doing an inquiry into parental engagement; and of course the child. So we are aiming to strengthen the teaching profession to give it the support it is needing. That is what the select committee is currently considering: legislation to transform the New Zealand Teachers Council into being a hallmark professional body for teachers—a hallmark professional body for teachers. This is the cornerstone of the Government’s work to raise improve and strengthen the value we place on our teachers and to back them to win. There are a number of strands in this cable that we have to lift student achievement and doing this valuing our teaching profession is one of them.It is too early to discuss at this stage what the format of EDUCANZ—the new renamed Teachers Council—will be because it is still before the select committee. But what we are aiming to do is ensure that the body that results after the committee has deliberated will be in a position to improve outcomes for our students and also improve the esteem with which our teachers are held. So as part of the consideration of the bill—Report noted.