Smith Murray: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Smith Murray: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Volume:616;Page:12526] 
8.  
MURRAY SMITH (United Future) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: Is he satisfied that schools are providing a well-rounded education for our children? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The Government is committed to ensuring that all our children are provided with the highest possible standard of education. We want all children to succeed. This Government has a clear focus on literacy and numeracy meaning that at times those parts of the curriculum are emphasised more than others. I make no apology for that. However our schools receive international praise for their emphasis on creativity and information and communications technology. 
Murray Smith 
: Is the Minister concerned that the absence of a requirement for secondary schools to teach New Zealand history to year 11 12 or 13 students has contributed to the current public misunderstanding about the Treaty of Waitangi and that because many schools are electing to teach Tudor history instead of New Zealand history young people are sent a message that morris dancing is more important than the foundations of our nation; if he is not concerned about that why not and if he is what is he doing about it? 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Two of those four questions can be answered. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think it is my experience that morris dancing is more often done in PE than in history. 
Lynne Pillay 
: What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that schools do focus on essential skill areas such as literacy and numeracy? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The No. 1 education priority for this Government is ensuring that all children reach their full potential. Literacy and numeracy are key parts of that and that is why we have developed asTTle which people are coming from round the world to look at as the best assessment system in the world and why we are putting $44 million this year alone into literacy. 
Nandor Tanczos 
: Following on from the supplementary question of Murray Smith does the Minister agree that it is important that schools do teach about the importance of the Treaty of Waitangi in the birth of our nation and about its ongoing importance in the future of our nation so that future rounds of the ongoing constitutional debate that we are currently engaged in can be well informed; if he does agree with that what is he doing to ensure that it happens? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Yes I do. That is why it is an important part of the social studies programme that goes through to year 10. I think that is appropriate. At the moment for example we do not require kids to do maths at year 11. I am certainly not going to require them to do particular bits of a history programme when we do not require them to do history at all. That is just silly and it is not the approach that we take within New Zealand. If people want their pet subjects to be taught all over the place we will have a dog’s breakfast of an education system like they do in parts of the United States in much of Australia and in the United Kingdom. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Does the Minister support programmes initiated by some schools that attempt to educate students in broader life skills such as the driver education programme at Porirua College and the entrepreneurship programme at Onehunga High School and can he tell the House whether those excellent initiatives have received any support from the Ministry of Education and whether they will do so in the future? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I think the answers are yes yes and all schools receive a lot of funding from the ministry. 
Bernie Ogilvy 
: Can the Minister confirm responses to written questions that reveal that his ministry has no idea how many schools run character or values education programmes despite the fact that the curriculum framework states that “attitudes and values are an integral part of the curriculum”; and what specific steps is he taking to ensure that some form of character education is part of every child’s learning experience? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: In the last few words the member hit the nail on the head. It is a matter of that being part of a learning experience not a programme.