Muller Todd: Annual Review Debate — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMuller Todd: Annual Review Debate — In Committee[Sitting date: 13 April 2016. Volume:713;Page:10511. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]TODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): It is with great excitement and privilege that I stand and talk for the first time actually in my new role on the Education and Science Committee about the review of the education and science year. After the Opposition ramblings let us talk about children shall we and the incredible effort that this Government has made in partnership with the ministry and teachers around New Zealand to actually deliver a better outcome for our children in New Zealand. The other side might get lost in all its lamentations and study around the future of work—Carmel Sepuloni: No expectations; no aspirations.TODD MULLER: —but this Government will focus on ensuring that our children when they leave at the end of their education are fit—Carmel Sepuloni: That’s why the Deputy Prime Minister calls them all hopeless. No aspirations.TODD MULLER: —and ready to be able to take those skills to the world. That is why I am delighted to be able to talk to this review. Let us look at the results that Carmel Sepuloni is spurning from the other side. In 2008 just 7—The CHAIRPERSON (Hon Chester Borrows): Order! The member has achieved cut-through; can she tone it down a bit now?TODD MULLER: —short years ago—7 short years ago—only 68 percent of our 18-year-olds had National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) level 2 or equivalent. The other side did not worry; it is not particularly interested in the actual achievement of these young people but this Government over the last 7 years has lifted that to 84.4 percent. We get absolutely no credit; the Opposition is constantly looking for fault. These are real children who have achieved under this Government and we are still relentlessly unsatisfied with 84.4 percent. We will push on to make it higher because that is the aspiration Carmel of this Government. We are interested in children and in ensuring that they succeed and have the skills and resilience and attitude to be able to embrace their future. I can assure you that they will have very little interest in the future of work that you spend all of your hours lamenting and debating.Let us look at Māori and Pasifika children in particular. In 2008 over half of them were not achieving NCEA; now Māori are at 69.4 percent up 33 percent and Pasifika 75.2 percent up 48 percent. These are real numbers real children and it is making a fantastic difference to the people of New Zealand particularly to the people of the Western Bay of Plenty whom I have the privilege of representing. A number of our schools are in excess of that 84.4 percent target.The other issue I would like to cover off relating to education and science which I am sure will get the accolades that have been coming from the Opposition is the community of learning concept. What a fantastic concept that is. As a parent of three children who are in the education system at the moment I am very interested and supportive of that particular programme because I want to know how my children are performing against the national standard of reading writing and arithmetic. In particular I want to understand how their performance continues through their lifetime of educational attainment particularly in the years 1 through to 13. I want to know what is working I want to know when they are under pressure and above all I want to know that their data of performance is actually being followed year by year teacher by teacher school by school.I am not interested in a cliff face where they go from a primary school to an intermediate and suddenly it is like a new child and we have got to work out who they are. I expect the education system of the Western Bay of Plenty to have my children at the core of its focus. For every single step that they make in their academic attainment and challenge I want it databased I want it evidenced and I want the teachers to be able to understand how they are succeeding and where their challenges are. If as a group of teachers they can see that my child or a group of our children is under pressure in a particular area be it science or education I want to make sure that those teachers then work together drawing out best practice to ensure that they can apply what is the best in the education system and in particular our area to improve our children.I know when I look at the face of Stuart Nash over there that he fundamentally agrees with what I am saying because it is common sense it is intuitive it is evidence-based and it has got our children at the core and heart of this policy. That is why when we sat and listened to this in the Education and Science Committee we were so impressed with the analysis that we were having put in front of us. The other thing that really impressed me about the community of learning and the teachers who are involved with that is that they are seeing data and evidence as their friend—