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: 03 December 2013. Volume:695;Page:15128. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]10.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka) to theMinister of Education: Is she satisfied that the introduction of National Standards has led to a tangible improvement in student achievement; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education): Yes. If by tangible he means measurable the national standards data shows a small overall improvement in reported achievement from 2011 to 2012 with reading up 1.2 percent writing up 2 percent and maths up 1.4 percent. Obviously we have data across two data points only and so it is early days as I have often said in this House. But parents have told me again and againthey value the good clear information about their child’s progress. I would also note that of the over 2100 schools in the system just two did not report national standards data for 2012 so there is good uptake and it is making a measurable difference.Chris Hipkins: Why is she satisfied that national standards will improve student achievement when a report released by her own ministry found that national standards had incorrectly measured the achievements of around four out of every 10 students?Hon HEKIA PARATA: A number of the components of the New Zealand education system take some time to bed in. As the member will know the New Zealand curriculum introduced in 2000 took 12 years and our national qualifications framework has taken a decade to be moderated. The Education Review Office itself constantly reviews how well that methodology is working. We have a substantial body of evidence now growing on how well we are doing with national standards where we need to improve and we are continuing to do that. But mainly we are improving how we report to parents who are most interested in how well their children are doing and national standards help deliver that.Chris Hipkins: Does she believe that national standards are providing better information on student achievement to parents given that fewer than half of the parents surveyed believe that national standards were providing a valuable record of their student’s learning?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Yes and although the member has not disclosed the name of the particular report I am assuming it is the New Zealand Council for Educational Research report where fewer than half of the sample responded so we are talking about half of a half and actually three-quarters of parents in that same research report said that they appreciated getting clear reporting on national standards.Rt Hon John Key: Does the Minister think it will help the progress of young New Zealanders when we measure and monitor and report to them to their parents and to their teachers the progress of a child and their capability in reading writing and maths relative to not doing so; and what does it say about an organisation that cares more about the unions than it does about the kids?Mr SPEAKER: The Minister can answer the first part—[Interruption] Order! The first part of the question can be answered.Hon HEKIA PARATA: Yes another good question. Of course we are interested in that and of course parents want to know how well their children are doing in reading in writing in maths in science—in every curriculum subject. Now that we have national standards they are able to do that by child by classroom by school and by year which has never been able to happen before. Now we are able to do that we can also intervene without guessing as previous administrations did and know where we need to invest science and maths resources and other such initiatives. We are interested in every child unlike the Opposition.Chris Hipkins: Will the latest statistics from the OECD show that New Zealand has plunged from seventh in science to 18th from 12th in maths to 23rd from seventh in reading to 13th a decline that educational experts have widely predicted will be exacerbated by national standards?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am unable to answer that question because the OECD results are embargoed under a very strict protocol the detail of which will not be released until 11 o’clock tonight in New Zealand.Chris Hipkins: I seek leave to table a speech the Minister delivered last week on 28 November to the Iwi Chairs Forum where she did talk about the OECD statistics.Mr SPEAKER: Order! Any member can seek out that speech if they so want.Chris Hipkins: Is it the Government’s intention that teachers should spend increasingly more time filling in forms to comply with Government reportingrequirements and less time actually teaching; if not how does she respond to the 60 percent of teachers and 70 percent of principals surveyed who say that national standards have created more work for little gain?Hon HEKIA PARATA: Again let us be clear about that sample because when you use 60 percent and 70 percent you are talking about fewer than 180 schools out of 2100. Nevertheless we take those concerns seriously. So what has this Government done? We have designed with teachers a progression and consistency tool where—let us be clear—we are not asking teachers to make new judgments. We are asking them to compile all of the judgments they already make enter them into a tool put good quality data in once and be able to use that information multiple times.Rt Hon John Key: Can she confirm that when the Programme for International Student Assessment results are officially released tonight those 15-year-old children will not have ever done national standards and that may well be part of the problem?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I can confirm that absolutely because the 15-year-olds upon whom these results are measured went through school from 2001 to 2012. Therefore regrettably they were not caught by national standards.