Macindoe Tim: Education Amendment Bill — Second ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMacindoe Tim: Education Amendment Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 14 May 2013. Volume:690;Page:9877. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TIM MACINDOE (National—Hamilton West):Members of the public who are listening will be aware that the provisions for kura hourua or partnership schools have excited a lot of public debate and controversy especially among the teacher unions and the parties opposite. Many submitters did oppose partnership schools when they appeared before the Education and Science Committee and that opposition has been widely publicised. However many others came to support them and that was much less widely publicised. So I think it is important to set out in this debate on the Education Amendment Bill the views of some of those who are in favour and their reasons for proposing the concept.One such submitter as we heard from my colleague Colin King a short time ago was Dr Stuart Middleton. He is currently Director of External Relations at the Manukau Institute of Technology. I have no doubt that he is widely respected in this House and throughout the country for his educational experience and expertise. He told us as Mr King has reminded us that the “accommodation of Partnership Schools Kura Hourua into the education system is appropriate at this time when focus is sharpening on responding to the issues of disengagement and low achievement”. Dr Middleton also argued that the “scale of disengagement from schools and the level of educational failure in New Zealand are such that no opportunity to provide new and other pathways through education and training and subsequently into employment should be discounted nor should the opportunity to widen the system capability to bring success to young people be lost.” Dr Middleton concluded that “It must be noted that this proposal is not as radical as it is being painted and that there are already existing and clear similarities between the international ‘academy school’ development and the New Zealand education system in general.”Importantly we heard from Catherine Isaac the Chair of the Partnership Schools/ Kura Hourua Working Group and her colleagues Dr Margaret Southwick of Whitireia Community Polytechnic and Mike Hollings the Chief Executive of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu—The Correspondence School and although they were not able to be there in person it is notable that others on that working group include Hana O’Regan John Taylor Tony Falkenstein and Vicki Buck. These are a representative and experienced group of very credible people. Ms Isaac told us that the motivation for kura hourua is to lift educational achievement amongst our most disadvantaged students pure and simple. It is just one more tool in the educational tool box to help those children who are not currently succeeding in regular State schools because despite the fact that we do have a world-leading public education system we have to acknowledge that it is currently not working for all of our children.Tellingly Ms Isaac and her colleagues made the point that as the chair of the Education and Science Committee my good colleague Dr Calder reiterated earlier when you disaggregate the figures for all OECD countries New Zealand European and New Zealand Asian children are doing very well and they are up there in the top 10. In fact New Zealand European are up in the first or second but New Zealand Māori are down below 25 and New Zealand Pasifika cannot even make it into the top 30. That is a real worry and we have to ensure that we do something about it. That is what the partnership schools model is all about: greater freedom to use fresh ways of engaging with our struggling students and much stronger accountability for ensuring that they will succeed. That is a really important part of the equation.At the heart of the partnership schools model is a contract. The Crown will contract with an entity to provide education services in a binding legally enforceable contract that will require the entity to meet specific and measurable performance goals including student academic achievement; student engagement indicators and we know that truancy is a major challenge for many of these young people; parents whānau and community engagement indicators; mission-specific outcomes; and financial legal and organisational performance. Applicants who wish to open a kura hourua will have to provide a very high-quality proposal and they will face a rigorous authorisation process. They will be assessed on their capacity their educational track record financial competence mission and demonstrated demand for it and how the target students will be attracted. These are good meaty things. They need to be placed on the record because we have not heard about them at all from members opposite. Their students must be from the Government’s priority learner groups: Māori Pasifika and low socio-economic and special-needs groups.The working group members went on to assure us that partnership schools will be subject to much greater scrutiny and accountability than regular State schools and monitored quarterly six-monthly and annually on the agreed outcomes set out in the contract. They will be bound to the same statutory accountability procedures as State schools with regard to enrolment policy special education needs exemptions and expulsions providing audited financial statements Education Review Office reviews and health and safety. It is important for the public to have these assurances. It is also important to note that the working group has closely heeded the failures and successes from around the world and they have assured us that they have drawn on the very best. They have provided evidence that shows how well they can work.This is an option that does work when it is well implemented and appropriately delivered. I commend the working group for its input and its thorough and dedicated work. I believe that this option will be a very positive addition to our options for some of the most vulnerable learners in New Zealand. I wish those children well as they seek to raise their levels of aspiration and achievement. Why would we deny them that opportunity?The question was put that the amendments recommended by the Education and Science Committee by majority be agreed to.