Hipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHipkins Chris: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16727. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]5.CHRIS HIPKINS (Labour—Rimutaka)to the Minister of Education: Is she considering a greater role for national standards and NCEA achievement data in school funding and teacher pay decisions; if so why?Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education):No.Chris Hipkins: Did she tell the Herald on Sunday that in her view the most successful education systems were those that “have strongly incentivised a focus on ‘What difference I have made in my teaching and learning in the 6-month period?’ not just ‘What’s the final result are these kids above or at the national standards or have these kids passed NCEA?’ ”; if so what incentives was she referring to if she did not mean funding?Hon HEKIA PARATA: What I actually said was: “Having had a look at a lot of the educational systems and wishing to cherry-pick characteristics that we might want to incorporate here systems that have been most successful in closing the equity excellence gap are the ones that have strongly incentivised the focus on ‘What difference have I made in my teaching and learning in a 6-month period?’ not just ‘What’s in my final result?’.”Chris Hipkins: Is she denying that she made the quote I just read to her?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I am confirming what I actually said.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I asked a very specific question to the Minister which she basically did not address. In clarity I then used a further supplementary question to get a more explicit answer to that first question. She has answered neither of those.Mr SPEAKER: Order! No there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the first question was adequately addressed. With regard to the second one I can understand why the member is disappointed. I think to move forward I will allow the member an additional question.Chris Hipkins: When asked by the Herald on Sunday if she was talking about performance payment for schools did she reply: “Well that’s what I’m saying—it’s complicated.”?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I gave a full interview to the Herald on Sunday and I gave them a full range of characteristics that would need to be considered in a funding system. To cherry-pick two words out of several pages is misleading and unhelpful. What I actually said was: “There is substantive and consistent feedback from the system that the decile funding system does not work for them.” That member knows that to be the truth because under the former Minister of Education a full select committee inquiry was held on the matter.Chris Hipkins: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Once again that was actually a very specific question—Mr SPEAKER: Order! That question was specifically addressed in my opinion. The member can carry on with further supplementary—Chris Hipkins: Well did she say it or not?Mr SPEAKER: Order! If the member wants to ask a supplementary question I invite him to do it. Otherwise we can quickly move to the next question.Chris Hipkins: When she stated on Q+A last weekend in response to a question on how to determine whether a teacher was a good teacher or a bad teacher: “Well there’s two main ways. One is the actual results and the other is the value-add—the difference made in the actual teaching.” how did she propose to measure an individual teacher’s value-add?Hon HEKIA PARATA: What I was being asked I answered. There are two main ways. That is not to suggest that we have gone on to develop a funding system that reflects those two main ways. In fact our Government introduced national standards with the clear expectation that every 6 months at least plain English reporting to parents about the difference that has been made would be required. That is exactly what we are doing.Chris Hipkins: Will she now categorically rule out using student achievement data as a basis for school funding and teacher pay decisions; if not why not?Hon HEKIA PARATA: No funding system is based on one characteristic alone. Indeed the decile funding system we have now is based on seven. So of course we are interested in how well students do as parents are because that is why they send them to school.Catherine Delahunty: Did she tell the Herald on Sunday that separate from the routine census decile ratings review she was in her words “particularly interested in changes to the overall funding mechanism that would fund schools according to which school is delivering achievement.”?Hon HEKIA PARATA: No.Catherine Delahunty: Can she promise kids in lower decile schools that aside from the routine post-census decile ratings review currently under way their school will not get less funding than other schools if it cannot meet any future achievement or progress requirements?Hon HEKIA PARATA: I can promise the member that this Government is committed to quality education for every child regardless of what decile school they are in. We will target resources to meet that need and that is why we are seeing achievement go up—Catherine Delahunty: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. It was a very direct question: can she promise the kids that the school will not get less funding.Mr SPEAKER: Order! The Minister was attempting to answer it. The member cannot expect a categoric answer to a question like that.Hon Trevor Mallard: Who’s in charge here?Mr SPEAKER: Order! For the benefit of the Hon Trevor Mallard I was elected the Speaker of this Parliament if that is what the member is referring to.Catherine Delahunty: Will she promise to tell parents before the election whether any proposals she may be looking at would change the school funding system to peg funding to school achievement in any way?Hon HEKIA PARATA: My education agenda is clear and transparent and responsive. It is clear we want to review our professional learning and development we want to reduce the compliance on schools and we want to raise achievement for five out of five. Unlike everybody else on that side of this House we really do think kids are entitled to an excellent education and the opportunity to get that. We will target resources to get that outcome which is exactly what we are getting and I make no apology for that.Catherine Delahunty: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. Thank you Minister but I did ask you—Mr SPEAKER: Order! The question was addressed. The member asked what the Minister would be telling parents before the election and she told her.Gareth Hughes: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I just want to draw your attention. We got a large number of answers but the specific question was around pegging funding after the election. That point was not even addressed.Mr SPEAKER: Well I am not sure whether the member heard my rulings but I ruled that on the occasions when it was questioned as to whether the question had been adequately addressed it had been.