Strange JamieJAMIE STRANGE (Labour): Madam Assistant Speaker thank you for the opportunity to take a call on the Education (National Education and Learning Priorities) Amendment Bill. I'd like to pick up on a point right away that the member Simeon Brown mentioned. He said this bill is inconsequential. If it's inconsequential then why won't the member support the bill? It is important in education that we work hard to find consensus across the parties and I am disappointed that the Opposition members won't support this bill.Before I get on to the contents of the bill I would also like to acknowledge the 125-year anniversary of women's suffrage. One of the heroes of that movement was obviously Kate Sheppard and Kate Sheppard fought for equal opportunity. That was one of her key points that she was focusing on and this bill is about equal opportunity. It's about putting the learner back at the heart of the learning. It's about the New Zealand Curriculum.Now we have a world-class curriculum. When our curriculum came out in the early 2000s it was lauded across the world but in the past few years under the previous regime the curriculum was narrowed and teachers were forced to teach literacy numeracy—they couldn't teach the full breadth of the curriculum. But this bill puts the curriculum back at the heart of education and I'm going to give an example. I'm going to give an example for the members. Before I entered Parliament I was a music teacher. Back in 2012 the previous regime was going to remove the specialist subjects from intermediate schools. As a music teacher someone wanting to teach in the full breadth of the curriculum—the previous regime wanted to get rid of those subjects. That's one of the key reasons why I entered Parliament—because I believe in having a diverse curriculum.This bill aligns the NELPs—the National Education and Learning Priorities—with the New Zealand Curriculum. It aligns them. The amendment will put children back at the centre of the learning involving them in the process of creating or significantly changing the statement of the National Education and Learning Priorities. Now what do the children want? The children from my experience want a diverse curriculum. They don't want an education system based purely on literacy and numeracy. So therefore with the students back at the centre with students involved with the Minister in creating the NELPs we will have the kind of curriculum that will work for our young people.The bill requires the Minister of Education to consult widely—we've heard that before and it's an important point—with children young people and teachers on significant changes to the statement of the NELPs.Just a couple of other key points I'd like to pick up on here—Simeon Brown: We haven't even had one yet.JAMIE STRANGE: You need to listen young man—listen. I'd like to focus on the aspect of music in the curriculum. Music—a subject that the previous Government was going to remove from the curriculum back in 2012. When I was teaching music I wasn't just teaching guitar drums keyboard. I was developing key aspects of the curriculum: confidence creativity cooperation discipline and working in with others.So the heart of this bill is about enabling teachers to teach the full breadth of the curriculum. It's around the National Education and Learning Priorities being aligned to the curriculum. The curriculum is a diverse document—it's a diverse document—and it's important that these are related to that.I would like to finish with a flourish for the members opposite. I'd like to acknowledge some of our wonderful principals and in particular—DEPUTY SPEAKER: Well it's not a general debate speech.JAMIE STRANGE: Yes yes I know—because these principals—DEPUTY SPEAKER: No no the principles are in the bill surely.JAMIE STRANGE: Yes that's right. The Minister of Education will be liaising with the principals enabling the principals to teach the full breadth of the curriculum. That's basically what this bill does.