Stanford EricaHon ERICA STANFORD (Minister of Education): Thank you Madam Speaker. It's great to be back in the House and it's great to be back on this side of the House.Firstly Madam Speaker can I congratulate you on the role that you have taken up. As chief whip to the National Party it was always your wise counsel that we appreciated so much. For those of us—maybe me—who got ourselves into shtook sometimes you were outstanding in leading us and helping us. I've always appreciated that and I think you're going to be outstanding in this role.To our Prime Minister Christopher Luxon: I am so excited for Christopher Luxon to be the Prime Minister of this country. His drive his determination his commitment to this country—I am very proud to serve under his leadership.To Chris Hipkins: can I say to you Chris Hipkins welcome home. Because no one has ever looked so at home than Chris Hipkins in Opposition. He slotted right back in like it was an old shoe. So welcome home Chris Hipkins. But his speech today about this coalition was a bit rich. Because if you're looking for chaos if you are looking for a lack of direction look no further than the previous Labour Government.Labour were a party at the election who stood for nothing. Everything Jacinda had built—or tried to build—over 5½ years: gone. Everything she had tried to stand for: under Chris Hipkins' leadership gone. The worst defeat of any Government in this country ever was this previous Government because they stood for nothing. They were confused they were chaotic and the people of this country were the ones who suffered because of it. Chris Hipkins' Prime Ministership was a legacy of backflips of U-turns and it's no wonder the public lost confidence. Because they didn't know what Labour stood for.We remember the ex - finance Minister and - Deputy Prime Minister's social insurance scheme. He worked on it for 2½ years. I think there were more Ministers involved in that scheme than anything else. The vision of Grant Robertson; the vision of Carmel Sepuloni: gone by lunchtime. David Parker the most senior Minister in Government threw his toys gave up his revenue portfolio because his vision for tax reform: gone by lunchtime under Chris Hipkins. Willie Jackson the second-highest Māori Minister worked on broadcasting reform for years. His vision: gone by lunchtime under Chris Hipkins. The bonfire was not so much of a bonfire but a towering inferno full of Woods Sepuloni Parker Robertson—all of their visions up in smoke. This was a party that stood for nothing and continues to stand for nothing.National is a party that stands for delivery; we stand for outcomes; we stand for evidence front-line results and improving people's lives. In education we stand for achievement ambition success and equality of opportunity. We know that education is the great enabler and we will be relentless in our drive to improve achievement. We will be ambitious—unashamedly ambitious—in the targets that we've set for this nation's children. The most egregious thing that happened under the last Government—in fact under Chris Hipkins' watch as Minister of Education—was the fact that our achievement went backwards.There was a reason that in Chris Hipkins' speech today when he listed all his perceived achievements what did he say about education? We built some classrooms." Nothing about improving achievement outcomes for our kids. Nothing about how many kids we got to curriculum. Nothing about how we improved our NCEA results. Nothing about getting our kids to school. And there's a reason for that. It's because they failed abysmally.It's egregious because it's not just like they said they'd build a bridge and then they didn't. These are the lives of our kids; it's their futures that they have taken away. That is what is so egregious and we will not as a Government stand by and allow that. It should have lit a fire under them when they saw the declining results over time. The Programme for International Student Assessment results last night just confirmed that decline. Under our Government the trends of decline the decline in performance the trends of teacher retention: they stop. They stop under our Government.I have set a very ambitious target of getting 80 percent of our kids to curriculum by the time they leave intermediate. We owe it to our kids; we owe it to their families to make sure that every child has the opportunity to succeed at high school to go on to live the life that they want and take on the world like we know that they can.For decades we have had a curriculum that has been very loose; that has been a paper-thin document devoid of knowledge. National will return a curriculum that is knowledge-rich; that lays out the core content knowledge every year in order of how it should be taught to ensure that there is consistency across the country. So no matter where you go to school no matter which school you are in no matter which teacher you have you have access to the same core content knowledge as a child. We will ensure there is consistency across the country.I'll tell you what: chemistry bio and physics will be in the science curriculum. I can't believe that I actually have to say that. I tell you what: the Government will just say "Oh it was just an idea that we had." It was just a fast draft that they worked on and spent money on for months to remove those core areas out of science. That will not happen under our watch. We will ensure that the methods of teaching literacy and numeracy are based on the science of learning; about how the brain learns. We will ensure that every single child in this country at primary school will learn to read through structured literacy and we will ensure that structured mathematics is embedded so that the basic concepts of maths are taught in a structured and with a scope and a sequence and that those basics are mastered.Let me just remind this House how Labour proposed to teach mathematics through a critical awareness of wider political and ideological and economic issues addressing issues of power social justice and equality. That will not happen under this Government I can tell you that. We will ensure that we assess progress of our learners along the way so that we catch our kids before they start to fail and make sure that they can go on to be at curriculum by the end of year 8 and go on to experience success at high school.In our first 100 days we are taking the very first steps on this journey. We are ensuring there will be consistency across the country in terms of reading and writing and maths time spent. We already know that most schools do this but we are ensuring that it's formalised and that there is consistency across the country so that every child—no matter where they go to school—has access to an hour a day of reading writing and maths.We will remove the distraction of cellphones in our schools because we know that the evidence shows that our kids improve their achievement and also their wellbeing. We will start the job of rewriting the curriculum and the Common Practice Model.Can I say to the hard-working and passionate teachers and principals and teacher aides up and down this country this Government is here to support you; to provide you the tools the resources and the time that you need to do what you do best: helping our young learners to succeed and achieve at school to grow up to live the life that they want.When Jan Tinetti said on the news after Labour's defeat that she felt a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders when she lost her job as education Minister I say it is my great privilege and great honour to take on this huge responsibility: of ensuring that our children experience academic success and we bring it back to the heart of our education system. I will never describe this job as a "weight" or a "burden".Can I finish by quoting a great principal that I visited last week—the first week on the job—Iain Taylor at Manurewa Intermediate School. The thing that he says to the learners at his intermediate is "There is no time to lose." Every minute counts. It's a school that doesn't allow cellphones; that has an hour a day of reading writing and maths; it is a school under his leadership that values academic success and has high standards for their children. When he says "There is no time to lose" to his young learners I say that to all my colleagues. We have no time to lose because this job is too important. Thank you Madam Speaker."