Delahunty Catherine: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
Delahunty Catherine: Estimates Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:665;Page:12736] 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY (Green) 
: 
 Nga mihi ki te reo rangatira me Te Wiki o te Reo Maori. Tena koutou katoa. Educational estimates will always be fraught with people calling for more money to be spent in the public system and there is a good reason for that. The greatest investment we can ever make is in a public education that works for all our children. But this year was a huge disappointment over a number of issues and I will focus on just three. 
A couple of weeks ago I spoke at the Napier regional kindergarten conference and I have to say that the room was seething with discontent— 
Paul Quinn 
: Seething? 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY 
: —seething—because the Government cuts to early childhood education funding had upset people considerably. We can try to spin it any way we like but the facts remain that kindergartens which previously had 100 percent qualified staff and which were actively targeting hard-to-reach families through keeping costs minimal now have to find a way to either increase costs or employ cheaper less-qualified staff and cut quality in some form. Those people were furious. They just do not accept that early childhood education is something to be undermined when times get hard. The Greens agree with them that building motorways may keep the car and truck lobby happy but it does nothing for the most important and vulnerable people to enter learning—or not—through early childhood centres. That is a big fail for the Budget and for education estimates. 
Secondly the public-private partnerships in school buildings will cost us. It is a bad idea to assume that contractors who gain more control over State assets like school buildings will save money and reduce stresses in schools. If people are trying to make a profit they have to find a way to cut costs and that will not be in the best interests of school students. We know that this is the thin end of the wedge in terms of the privatisation agenda. 
Finally we have the national standards debacle. 
Grant Robertson 
: Debacle! 
CATHERINE DELAHUNTY 
: Debacle! It is enough to make us barking. If we are going to spend Government money restructuring the education system in primary schools to improve literacy and numeracy we might want to discuss the methodology with practitioners in schools and academics first. Instead we have the ridiculous situation whereby the Principals Federation teachers’ unions and many parents are asking for a trial and the Minister is refusing. Teachers who have been attending the training on national standards say that it is incoherent and unhelpful especially given that assessment tools are already well developed. 
The Greens have put out a poster on national standards calling for a far more positive approach. We believe in small classes participatory education properly paid support staff and clear reporting to parents but we are now receiving complaints from parents that school reports are abrupt and narrow and show no real knowledge of the child as a whole person. Ranking children in relation to arbitrary national standards has made at least one teacher come to me in tears and another one say that a competent 6-year-old child now feels like a failure. This is a damaging waste of resources and of potential. 
There is no shame in a rethink of educational policy and a refocus of educational resources. It is not too late to have a trial on national standards and for the Minister to rebuild the damaged relationships with the Principals Federation teachers’ unions concerned parents and educational academics. All those parties would welcome a trial as a good use of resources and would welcome the opportunity to explain to the Minister the current assessment techniques they are trying to apply. So let us get real now and stop the attack on the education sector in the name of ideologically redundant forms of pupil management. League tables are for sports teams and labels are for jam jars. 
Of course the Greens are concerned about the systems failing Maori and Pacific nations and I am sure the special rapporteur noted these issues as he did in terms of prisons. There is a horrible similarity between prisons and schools at the moment with the private-partnership model and the lack of proper resourcing in the right order. I recognise that this issue is very important for Maori and Pacific nations children. We support better resources and kaiako design standards for kura kaupapa but 80 percent of tangata whenua tamariki are in Pakeha schools and they need a great culturally appropriate education too. 
The Government performance on education has achieved a remarkable hat trick in alienating the early childhood sector the compulsory sector and the tertiary sector. I have to agree with Grant Robertson on these issues and say that we are throwing away so many opportunities and abusing by closing off the lists for enrolment into the tertiary education sector. But we are doing it at the other end as well at the expense of the next generation.