Davis Kelvin: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Davis Kelvin: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:656;Page:5629] 
KELVIN DAVIS (Labour) 
: 
 I rise to agree with my colleague Sue Moroney on the fact that this is all about priorities—priorities in education. If we agree that the main priority of education is to raise achievement then I say that this Budget misses that opportunity in a number of ways. If we are to raise achievement then the priority needs to be the quality of the teachers in front of the kids. If we strip everything away all of the social issues the one single thing that raises achievement more than anything else is the quality of interaction between the teacher and the student. That is the most important thing. 
So it disturbs me to see that in terms of support and resources for teachers $5 million has been taken away in this Budget. In terms of curriculum support which enables teachers to understand the curriculum and be able to deliver it properly $7 million has gone. For the provision of advisory services—the people who travel around go into schools and support teachers to improve their craft and their skills—$3 million has gone. That is $15 million in total yet when we listened to what Colin King said we heard that $16 million has gone into boosting the truancy fund. On the surface that seems admirable yet if we were to invest in teachers and in their ability to engage with kids and to excite them about schools and learning then we would not need huge funds for truancy. If school is the best adventure in town if pupils are engaged and interested in what they are learning then they do not want to truant. I think it is a bottom-of-the-cliff situation to put a heap of money into truancy and to take money away from improving support for teachers. It is about priorities. 
One of the priorities for those of us who are on the left of the political spectrum compared with those on the right is that we believe in cradle-to-the-grave education. We believe in opportunities. From the time our kids are born they can go through early childhood education through the compulsory sector and through into tertiary education if they so desire. Unfortunately there is a group of people who for whatever reason may not engage or succeed in education and who leave the system having underachieved or they might have been out of the workforce for a little while and want to have the opportunity to get back into adult education. Unfortunately their opportunity to do so has been severely jeopardised by the fact that there have been cuts to the adult community education budget. 
Adult community education also offers social priorities. I will touch on one of the social opportunities—it is also a health opportunity—that adult community education offers in Kaitaia. There is a course for those people who want to do massage. Four people wanted to take up this massage course which is probably a course that the Minister of Education would term a hobby course. However one of those people who took up the opportunity for the massage course who paid $50 and went off on a Saturday to do the course is the father of a tetraplegic boy who is confined to a wheelchair. This father used the massage course to massage the limbs of his son who is confined to a wheelchair and that has taken a measure of the burden off the health system. 
Another person who did the massage course is a woman whose elderly husband suffers from chronic arthritis. She massages his joints. Again that alleviates his pain and it also takes a measure of the burden off the health system. The final two people who participated in that massage course—this hobby course—are both practising nurses who used the massage techniques and strategies to supplement their ability in their work as nurses. 
It is really important that we do not forget that aside from the fiscal savings that those on the right are looking for there are also the social and the health savings that those of us on the left are concerned about because we are concerned about people. For those on the right it comes down to profits. 
We are also concerned about unemployment. My understanding is that the 0.6 percent of the tertiary education fund that has been cut for adult community education will mean that 4000 tutors will probably lose their jobs at a time when 1000 people a week are already losing their jobs because of the recession. We should be looking for opportunities for people to retain their jobs. Unfortunately this 0.6 percent cut in adult community education will impact on 4000 jobs. Thank you Mr Chair. 
Vote agreed to.