Roy Heather: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
Roy Heather: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading 
[Volume:651;Page:663] 
Hon HEATHER ROY (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the third reading of the Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill on behalf of the ACT Party. The comments from the Opposition are a sad reflection on how those members consider progressive policies. If members believe the Green member Metiria Turei they would think that this bill is about punishing poor people for being poor. In fact Metiria Turei said exactly that. That certainly is not what this bill is about. If she took a moment to read the bill she would see that it is about trying to advantage the children in New Zealand society who at the moment are severely disenfranchised from the educative process. That is what we should be striving for. 
This bill is actually about expectations and a number of speakers on this side of the Chamber have made that point very eloquently. It is about expectations and about setting expectations for our children. It is about setting expectations for their parents to get them to school. It is about setting expectations for those who participate in our educational system. Most of all it is about expecting that we should strive for excellence in education and equality. 
Every child regardless of family income should have the right to quality education. No child should be left behind just because of where he or she lives or because of their parents’ financial position. We should also not forget that education is first last and always about children. It is not about Government or bureaucrats; it is about children. It is about children and it is about parents being able to access quality education for their children. 
This bill is about raising standards of achievement and attendance in the compulsory education sector. One might not realise after listening to Opposition members that there are two parts to the bill. Those members have just focused on the piece that they fear most and that is about numeracy and literacy standards being elevated and reached. The first part of the bill is about school enrolment and attendance and how important that is for our children but the Opposition has not focused on that part of the bill. Parents will under this bill be increasingly held liable for the actions of the children in their care and they will be made aware that regular truancy will not be accepted. That message needs to get through loud and clear. Children who do not turn up for school will not learn. 
Secondly and most important this bill will introduce national standards in literacy and numeracy. I have a question for the Opposition. Why is it so bad that schools will be required to report to parents—in plain language as the Minister pointed out—on how their children are doing? 
Moana Mackey 
: They already are. 
Hon HEATHER ROY 
: They are not. I tell Ms Mackey that a lot of information is withheld from parents at the moment. Parents should have the right to have access to all assessment information and that is what will be required under this legislation. Many schools already test students but they are not required to do so and at the moment they do not have to tell parents the results of the tests. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: They are required to do so. Read the NAGs. 
Hon HEATHER ROY 
: Mr Mallard has been out of education for far too long if he thinks that that is the case. Under the law change schools must provide parents with all the assessment information collected about their child and must also pass on the aggregate information data and that is right and proper. 
This bill is a good first step. That is what ACT sees it as. It is a good first step to improving education across the board for all children in New Zealand. But it must be followed in my view by further work. In particular there is a lot of work to do on the curriculum and that must follow hand in hand with this work and with the best vehicles to realise those expectations that I talked about—the expectation of excellence the expectation of good-quality access and the expectation of equality. All children regardless of family income and regardless of where they live should be able to access quality education. School choice is important in that equation and the ACT Party in negotiating our support agreement with National talked a lot about school choice. We are looking forward to the establishment of the inter-party working group. We are looking forward to working with the National Government to lift and boost the level of education across the board. 
ACT supports this bill. I will finish with this comment; I said it in the first reading speech that I gave yesterday. It is important that we have high-level goals and be mindful of why we want to boost education standards in the first place. Education is the key to our long-term prosperity as a country. We need our next generation to have the skills and the creativity needed to thrive in the 21st century not to look back to the 19th century. There is a lot of work to be done but this is a very important first step. The ACT Party supports the National Government in this very important initiative.