Parata Hekia: Education Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Parata Hekia: Education Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:661;Page:9658] 
HEKIA PARATA (National) 
: 
 Tena koe Mr Assistant Speaker. Huri noa to tatou Whare i tenei ahiahi tena tatou katoa. I am pleased to stand and take a short call on the second reading of the Education Amendment Bill. I think this bill is being somewhat underestimated by Opposition members notwithstanding their statement that they are supporting it. The bill reflects a couple of key tenets of this National Government: first the importance and the criticality of education not only to the students themselves to their school and to their community but also to the long-term sustainability of New Zealand; and secondly our very keen interest in the reduction of compliance costs. This bill delivers on both those concerns and interests of this National Government. 
There are a number of important elements in this bill. Yes I think a previous speaker said that this was kind of a tidy-up bill and those kinds of bills are very important every now and again. The speakers this afternoon have talked about the two main emphases within this bill on police vetting and information matching so I will rehearse to members the list of other elements where this bill cleans up and helps with the reduction of compliance costs which this Government is concerned about. Then I will return to the criticality of education and to how the amendments in this bill contribute to raising the quality of education which we are united in this House in being committed to. 
The bill also contains a number of other changes. I am mindful that this is the second reading or I might treat the House to a far more high-flying speech but given that we have been reminded thus far— 
Chris Hipkins 
: I am sure it’ll be a high-flying speech anyway. 
HEKIA PARATA 
: I thank Mr Hipkins and I will do my best to live up to his expectations. The bill also contains a number of other changes. It retrospectively validates the Crown payment to integrated schools in cases where there has been an invalid change of proprietor and the payment subsequently becomes unlawful. It allows more flexibility for when triennial elections for school boards are held because we are in the somewhat dopey situation at the moment where boards are required to hold elections every 3 years regardless of whether a school is imminently about to close. We cleaned up that little nonsense in this bill— 
Hon Member 
: That’s very sensible. 
HEKIA PARATA 
:—because we are a very sensible Government; I thank the member. 
The bill allows for special schools to be accredited for the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and removes from them the impediment of risking being unlawful should they offer this qualification. It removes an anomaly in the Act so that private schools are able to be lawfully accredited to offer NCEA. 
The bill allows for combined establishment boards that can set up new schools. We have had some experience of this in my home area of the East Coast where combined boards are the most sensible arrangement for schools that are spread across quite a lot of geography. They are very small schools and the pool from which boards of trustees can be drawn are similarly small. This bill addresses the notion that a combined board is able to operate for a number of schools. 
The legislation allows more flexibility for when private schools are reviewed. Why should those private schools be denied the opportunity of scrutiny that public schools are given through the Education Review Office? It expands the existing offence provisions and sanctions relating to student allowances and loans and it ensures that we incentivise the students of today to be honest and law-abiding citizens when they borrow money to finance their education. 
The bill allows for a teacher’s practising certificate to be suspended where an alleged serious misconduct is the subject of an investigation which is yet another testimony to the common sense of this Government. Where a teacher is being investigated for improper and potentially unlawful behaviour I ask why a school would wish that that teacher was able to retain his or her registration. The bill allows for the suspension of a teacher’s practising certificate to be extended until the investigation of misconduct is resolved. 
The bill clarifies the definition of a playgroup. It clarifies the terms “special class” “special clinic” “special school” and “special service”. It clarifies the definition of institution in relation to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority provisions to improve the operational efficiency of course approvals and accreditation. 
We can see that this bill caters to a wide range of elements albeit very small on their own but together they contribute to the integrity of the education system. We are concerned about the integrity of the education system including the registered status of teachers. 
One colleague on the Opposition benches Mr Davis damned with faint praise the approach that we are taking in this bill in respect of ensuring that teachers are registered. Mr Davis said that that did not contribute to the raising of student achievement or to the quality of education. But I beg to differ. All of the research that has been reported in this House consistently by the Minister of Education when she has been able to talk about our flagship policy of national standards has revolved around the quality of the teacher in the classroom the importance of assessment and the ability to inform teaching practice by that assessment so that it is applied to improving the educational experience of the student in the classroom. Registration and ensuring that teachers are registered are directly related to quality and to our interest in national standards being offered across all schools. 
I would like to correct yet another speaker on the Opposition benches who seemed to be wilfully mistaking national standards with national testing. At no point has this Government or this Minister talked about national testing. In fact she has been at some pains to explain that this Government supports the use of current tests within schools and then applying them to national standards. 
Another mistake made by the Opposition was to suggest that the focus of national standards on numeracy and literacy meant that it would preclude the teaching of the wider New Zealand curriculum. The teaching profession is known as a profession because it is expected that teachers will make informed judgments based on their own training their own practice their observations and the use of tools and in so doing they will be able to make an assessment about what is best for the student involved. 
I will reduce national standards to a very “down home” example. When my child has earache I do not cut off her ear and decide how it might be treated. I look at my child as a total organic system and decide how her general health is affecting her ear and how her ear is affecting her health. In the same way national standards are simply an indicator of how well the wider system is doing but they are critical indicators— 
Hon Steve Chadwick 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. This is a wonderful speech but I think the Assistant Speaker knows what I am going to refer to. If the member could only stick to the bill. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Eric Roy) 
: I allowed some tolerance to a member on that member’s side of the House having called him in. Members should perhaps acquaint themselves with page 107 of  
Speakers’ Rulings 
. It is quite specific about subject material in relation to the bill. 
HEKIA PARATA 
: I felt strongly that my speech related to the importance of having registered teachers in the classroom and of the police vetting process to assure us of their role. Registration of teachers will assure us that teachers are quality teachers and that they are delivering the quality of teaching required within the classroom. I fail to see how my speech is not directly relevant to the second reading of the bill. 
However I will remark on one other part of this bill before I sit down. It refers to the governance issue. Of recent times I have had close experience of the appointment of a commissioner to a school and have become very aware that it is not an ideological choice as some speakers seem to have implied that if a commissioner or a limited statutory manager does not have a teaching background then by definition he or she cannot add quality to the governance of the school. My direct observation is that if a person comes with competence capability and a commitment to lifting the quality of the performance of the school and focusing the school on raising the achievement of students which is the business of the school then it really does not matter whether that person comes from a business background or an educational background. What matters is that the person is able to facilitate the achievement of the outcome of raising our students’ achievements. 
This Government through this bill and through many other pieces of legislation continues to demonstrate that its focus is on results on outcomes and on performance. This bill will help us to deliver that. I commend the bill to the House. Kia ora.