Tuiono TeanauTEANAU TUIONO (Green): Fakaalofa lahi atu Madam Speaker. Fakaalofa lahi atu ki a mutolu oti. I'm just wanting to recognise that it's Niuean Language Week and the theme for Faahi tapu he vagahau Niue—Niuean Language Week—is Kia tupuolaola e moui he Tagata Niue" which means "May the Tagata Niue thrive". Actually I'm sure all of my Niueans would agree that they would hope that not only all Niueans thrive but actually all of our teachers thrive as well and I would like to begin by acknowledging all of our teachers who are doing all the hard yards at the moment teaching our kids but particularly those in Auckland who are doing their jobs but then also doing them from home as well. It's a tough job and I know that teachers don't just do it for the money. They do it because they love our kids and they love to make sure and to see our kids and our families and communities grow. In particular I'd like to acknowledge the Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) and as I listened to the submissions I could hear the frustration coming through the Zoom call. They were so frustrated that they took this to the High Court. We've heard from other speakers the results of that and we're also appreciating that this piece of legislation is about trying to fix up some of the stuff that was set up in 2015. The Greens believe that our education system should give everyone the best possible start on a lifelong journey that happens inside and outside the classroom or even in the Zoom room. Every child is entitled to high-quality free accessible public education that gives them the best possible start in life. Education is a public good that should be publicly funded and we should centrally fund teachers and their activities. We value the contribution they make to Aotearoa and the work to increase the number of skilled teachers. There's been a lot of work been put into this bill. The bill is the result of a Government decision in 2020 to reduce funding for the Teaching Council which led to the council having to increase the fees that teachers pay in order to cover its costs. The Teaching Council is a statutory body set up for the Government to handle the registration and certification of teachers. They investigate teachers' misconduct handle professional complaints and provide professional leadership for the workforce. I'd like to thank the Education and Workforce Committee and the chairperson Marja Lubeck for pulling us all together. We were doing it under lockdown and I know that each—well I felt that each member of that committee was committed to getting the best possible outcome for teachers and for our schools and also of course for our communities as well. I had heard that the teachers were frustrated but I was surprised at the extent of the frustration. In all of the submissions that I heard none of them were in support of the legislation—I heard there were a couple but none of them showed up for me as well—and I guess some of that is around information not landing properly but then also a lack of clarity around some of the provisions of the legislation. So we welcome the changes made to the education and training amendment bill in terms of some of the concerns that were raised in the submissions and we also acknowledge that it is nudging in the right direction—in particular the provisions which will ensure that the council consults with the teacher profession and turns its mind to the actual and reasonable costs in the carrying out of its functions when setting fees and levies—and hopefully this will provide reassuring checks on the powers of the council. However despite these changes we remain concerned that the council is now expected to fund core functions independently having received partial funding from the Government for long periods of time. I have heard that this has been signalled for quite some time to the profession but the thing is that when we talk to the professionals we've got to make sure that that stuff lands with the rank and file. I know right now that there are next to no teachers listening to these speeches—next to none. They're all working teaching our kids. So it's all very well for us to have these monologues but in order for a communication to land we need to have dialogues or multi-logues to make sure that when we communicate things they land appropriately in the way that we intend them to land. Fee increases even those that are reasonable and actual will be necessary and we are concerned about the subsequent financial burden that this will represent for Aotearoa's teachers. At the heart of that what I got after listening to all the submissions was that there was a direct mistrust and opposition to the council and the way that it operates. I get that this legislation is about unlocking potential and trying to sort things out after the issues from the 2015 set-up of this legislation as well but there are problems with the relationship between teachers—particularly those affiliated with the PPTA—and the Teaching Council. For me I was thinking about relationships the other day and I guess the way to describe it as a relationship—I was just thinking about food actually. A good relationship is a boil-up—you know you've got to give it a bit of time. You've got to put the ingredients in you've got to let it simmer for a little bit you've got to then kind of check in on it and you've got to give it time to actually get the fine taste of the kai. It's a boil-up; it's not a fry-up. You don't cook it up really really quickly and then sort of expect for it to taste well. So my concern here is that we have boiled up this legislation and then turned off the stove waited a little bit turned it back on and then 10 minutes later chucked in a bit of salt and then maybe turned it on a little bit later and that is my concern about this because this hasn't landed well with a lot of teachers. So for me I think in terms of nudging our way towards an outcome—because I think we all want that right? Well I hope we all want that. We all want the teachers to have confidence in the Teaching Council because when you have that and that relationship is solid that is the best thing for schools for teachers and for communities. I have some questions that hopefully we can get some clarity over or even a response from that corner of the House even in the committee stage. Given that the Teaching Council does not intend to possibly be able to fulfil its intended legislative functions without a substantial fee increase how will the Government mitigate the financial burden for teachers because we are talking about some new teachers that are just starting early childhood education teachers and then of course relief teachers as well. I remember one submission from a teacher and she talked about how she had to budget right down to the next dollar. So all of a sudden you're going to have 10 years' worth of increases potentially showing up and then what will that mean for that teacher? Instead of amending the legislation to allow for levies to be charged as well as fees why does the Government not just fund those aspects of the Teaching Council that are for the public good such as the disciplinary functions themselves instead of making all teachers pay for a process that the vast majority might not need? Why does this legislation seek to expand the Teaching Council's fee-setting powers to cover all of those expanded functions when the submissions to the select committee were very clear that teachers want to remove those expanded functions and not pay for them? I did want to acknowledge the comment from the Minister of Education around the leadership functions and how the Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) will take out those leadership provisions and so thank you for that clarity. But I do have some questions about what leadership means when in reference to that SOP. There are three types of leadership elements that I think we need to address to get that clarity to get the best ingredients possible in this boil-up that I was talking about. So with leadership is this about providing leadership to teachers and direction for the educational profession or will that be covered by the SOP? Will it be to enhance the status of teachers and educational leaders? That's the second element. Will it be able to identify and disseminate best practice in teaching or leadership and foster the educational profession's continued development in light of research and evidence of changes in society and technology? So I would like to get more clarity around those three elements of leadership or different types of leadership to see if this SOP will actually cover that to make sure that this is nudging in the right direction. I think a longer period of consultation over the changes in this bill would be more constructive and better. We did work hard in the select committee process and I know that the teachers themselves have been feeling frustration but at the heart of that is this relationship. We need to be able to get that relationship well and to make sure that it is as solid as possible and we did hear that they are actually running out of money and so on and so forth. But for me that's not the fault of teachers. Teachers did not do the 2015 legislation and they're not responsible for this legislation so why should they have to stump up extra money in a way that is not clear for them? So what I would encourage this House and of course the Minister to do is to work with the teachers—particularly the PPTA because the frustration is coming from that corner of our education ecosystem—and to walk with them to make sure that we do the best thing possible and get the best possible outcome for teachers for students and for our communities. Thank you Madam Speaker."