Upston Louise: Education Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Upston Louise: Education Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:661;Page:9655] 
LOUISE UPSTON (National—Taupo) 
: 
 It is clear that education is a major priority for this Government. We want to lift achievement in our schools as well as build opportunities for all of our young people. I am pleased to support the Education Amendment Bill in its second reading. 
I will focus on the bill unlike some of the previous speakers who talked about what Labour would like to have had if it were still in Government. I say to those members: “Sorry guys; you’re not.” I will talk about what is actually in this bill and the work that has been undertaken so let us take the focus back to that. 
It is great to have a bill that Labour is supporting as well as the Maori Party. There was a good process in the Education and Science Committee and changes have been made to the bill since the first reading to bring it to where it is now. My thanks go to my fellow members of the Education and Science Committee. A smaller number of submitters and officials were working on the bill on our behalf. 
I think it is worth taking people back to what this bill is about. It amends the Education Act 1989. The bill has two focuses. The first is the information matching between the New Zealand Teachers Council and the Ministry of Education to identify those teachers in schools without registration. The second is to reduce the compliance costs of police vetting. 
I will talk for a moment about the police-vetting side of the bill. Obviously anything that we can do to reduce unnecessary compliance costs in schools is vital. We want to make sure that every dollar that goes into education is focused on lifting student achievement and where we can make improvements and efficiencies in other areas we will. Schools and early childhood centres will have to request a police-vetting check at least 2 weeks before non-teaching staff start work instead of before the staff start at the school. That is to make sure that the school avoids any delays that could occur with the police. The police-vetting checks will not have to be renewed for staff who are no longer employed by the school or early childhood education centre or if the person’s circumstances have changed. 
Another important part of the bill is that household members of home-based early childhood centres or services aged 17 or older will need to have a police-vetting check. This will bring consistency to the vetting process and ensure that minimum standards are in place across the sector. Home-based early childhood services are growing; I for one had my own children in home-based care. So it is really important that police vetting is undertaken for those who are older than 17 who are in the household to make sure that the children in those services are safe. Schools and early childhood services will need to apply for a police vetting within 4 weeks of the bill coming into force to ensure that they avoid being held up by any delays with the police. 
In terms of school governance unfortunately some rather misleading statements have been made in the second reading debate about the intention of some of the improvements to school governance. A single person can be appointed as a limited statutory manager or commissioner on behalf of a body corporate. An example of a body corporate is a board of trustees. So no we are not talking about McDonald’s; we are talking about a group such as a board of trustees. That change was made in relation to concerns that a body corporate could impair accountability. There was quite a robust discussion about this in the select committee process. I guess that is exactly what select committees are for—to debate the issues that the submitters raise and to come to some agreement across the committee. 
Those changes mean that the Minister of Education will be able to split one or more schools from a combined establishment board. That provision could be used in a situation where an establishment board is used for example to set up two schools and one is ready to open before the other. The new school board could be set up from the establishment board while the latter still exists. 
The second focus of the bill was of course the information-matching programme which we have heard quite a bit on already. I will not focus on that too much other than to say that it is vital that the information from the Teachers Council and the Ministry of Education is matched as closely as possible so that we do not have a situation where teachers who do not have registration are still in front of our students. 
This is important legislation. This is a National bill not the one that Labour would like to have had. But it is good to see that we agree on what we are putting forward so I am appreciative of the Labour Opposition for its support for this bill. 
This Government wants to ensure that our education is world class that our system of education is the best that it can be and that in our New Zealand schools we have the best teachers the best students and the best schools. The changes in this bill relating to the National Certificate of Educational Achievement and Education Review Office reviews for private schools and some of those other smaller changes recognise that. Those changes also have an emphasis on helping those who are struggling. 
A struggle that we are all aware of is making sure that we have a better outcome than the one in five of our children who are failing in school. The National Government is committed to ensuring that our children are taught by registered teachers and that schools do not have to deal with unnecessary bureaucracy but can focus on lifting students’ achievement. I am delighted to support this bill.