Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Duncan Helen: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:620;Page:16163] 
1. HELEN DUNCAN (Labour) 
 to the  
Minister of Education 
: What progress has been made implementing the recommendations of the School Staffing Review Group? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD (Minister of Education) 
: 
 The Government will put an extra 462 teachers in secondary schools from the beginning of 2005. These extra teachers are over and above those required for roll growth and are part of our commitment to raising education standards. Since 1999 secondary schools have already received 805 extra teachers over those needed for roll growth; when combined with extra primary teachers that means we have put over 2500 extra teachers into our classrooms over and above those needed for roll growth—nearly one per school. 
Helen Duncan 
: What steps is the Minister taking to ensure that there is an adequate supply of teachers to fill these extra secondary teacher positions? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: The Government has put in place a wide range of teacher supply initiatives including relocation grants returning to teaching allowances and student loan support. An amount of $18.8 million will be invested in bonded scholarships which could be worth up to $20000 to some students depending on the duration of their study. These scholarships will meet the cost of a 3-year degree and a year of teacher education and for those studying full-time up to $10000 in other study costs. In return recipients will be expected to teach for the same number of years for which they received the scholarship. Our estimate is that up to 400 of these scholarships will be awarded each year but they are not capped. 
Gerry Brownlee 
: Can the Minister confirm that an Education Review Office report has found that at least one-third of beginning primary school teachers and around half of beginning secondary school teachers are not meeting competency standards and what does he think this says about the state of the New Zealand education system? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: It is fair to say that we need to continue to do some more work on the pre-service training of teachers to keep on improving the standards. The standards of course are internationally high. No one expects anyone right at the beginning of his or her teaching career to do a good job just like none of us expected Dr Brash to do one. [ 
Interruption 
] 
Mr SPEAKER 
: I was actually addressing the Hon Tony Ryall who was interjecting in the second person; I did not hear the last words of the Minister. The Minister made a reflection on a member of this House. He will withdraw it if he made it. 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: I withdraw. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Is it not true that schools had to draw on their existing staffing formulae in order to meet the requirements of the previous secondary and area school agreements regarding guaranteed non-contact time and will he guarantee that the same will not be required of schools for them to meet the commitments of the most recent contract rounds? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: My expectation is that the changes that come through in the most recent round will be able to be handled from within existing resources but schools always make choices around class size options available and the number of teachers. 
Paul Adams 
: Can he confirm that it is schools themselves that are ensuring adequate staff-student ratios as the number of teachers employed out of schools’ own operating grants has doubled from 1672 in 1998 to 3355 in 2004; if not can he explain why his schools have increasingly hired teachers off their own bat? 
Hon TREVOR MALLARD 
: Yes. This Government has increased operational spending by over 10 percent per student in real terms. As a result of that schools have a considerable amount of extra cash and many of them are choosing to improve ratios by hiring staff over and above what the generous Minister of Finance has supplied. I think that is wonderful. 
Gordon Copeland 
: I raise a point of order Mr Speaker. I am not sure that the Minister actually addressed that question. 
Mr SPEAKER 
: Yes he did; he most certainly did.