Robertson H V Ross: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Robertson H V Ross: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 13 March 2008. Volume:645;Page:14914. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
9.  
H V ROSS ROBERTSON (Labour—Manukau East) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: What reports has he received about the success of the education system? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER (Minister of Education) 
: 
 I have seen two reports. One report records a 90 percent satisfaction rate from parents about the support provided to their children by the special education section of the Ministry of Education. The second report is from John Key who claims education staffing numbers are out of control. Mr Key alleges that he spent the summer holidays researching each major area of Government policy. Clearly he did not read the education briefing very well. If he had he would know that in 2002 the Special Education Service was merged with the Ministry of Education. Statistically this increased the Ministry of Education’s staff but actually created no new positions. I would be happy to brief the Leader of the Opposition if he was not able to grasp the information from his background material. Perhaps he has already forgotten what he read over summer. 
H V Ross Robertson 
: Can the Minister tell the House what further reports he has seen about extra staff for our education system? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: The Ministry of Education has introduced significant enhancements to truancy services this year. A new contract has been signed with the Non-enrolment Truancy Service and the Ministry of Education has picked up responsibility for managing the most difficult cases and indeed has hired 10 extra staff to do this work. According to the Leader of the Opposition we should not have hired those extra staff. Does Mr Key want me to sack the 10 new truancy staff in order to cut staff numbers in the Ministry of Education? I guess his answer would depend on which audience he was talking to. 
Anne Tolley 
: How can the Minister talk about a successful education system when the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study on the literacy levels of New Zealand 10-year-olds shows that despite employing 40 percent more bureaucrats this Government has not lifted the literacy levels of the average 10-year-old since 2001? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I am very glad that member has raised the question of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment scores because New Zealand comes top in the English-speaking world in literacy numeracy and science—a very proud record. Why does that member want to keep knocking the successes of our education system? 
Dail Jones 
: When does the Minister expect to count among his successes a teacher education system that cannot be criticised as it is in the review entitled  
Becoming a Teacher in the 21st Century: A Review of Initial Teacher Education Policy  
of September 2007 which states: “Initial teacher education providers are in a difficult position because there has been no explicit statement of what newly qualified teachers are expected to know and be able to do. Whilst a number of bodies are involved in assuring the quality of initial teacher education there is no shared understanding of requirements for newly qualified teachers.”; and when does the Minister intend to remedy this problem so that he can count it as a success? 
Hon CHRIS CARTER 
: I am very glad the member raises that question too because the New Zealand Teachers Council last year set in place protocols that absolutely address that question about having a checklist for teacher trainees to have completed before they enter the teaching workforce.