Parata Hekia: General Debate 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Parata Hekia: General Debate 
[Sitting date: 15 August 2012. Volume:682;Page:4396. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon HEKIA PARATA (Minister of Education) 
: 
Tena koe Mr Speaker. Tenatatouhurinoaitotatou Whare. I want to talk about the brighter future that this side of the House is committed to and is working on. I want to talk about how we see the central importance of education because we understand both its transformative power in terms of building a strong and productive economy as well as how it contributes to strengthening the cultural and social backbone of our community. We have one of the best education systems in the world and it must remain so because we are part of a very competitive international community. New Zealand’s education system must continually strive to get better and better. At present on average four out of five of our students do very well and we should thank the principals and teachers who in classrooms up and down this country every day make that possible. 
But we are not a Government about averages. We are committed to five out of five students being successful and we understand that that takes investing in. In order for that brighter future to be available to all New Zealand students they need to leave school with secure good quality education—something this Government is committed to working on. Unlike Labour which when it was in Government spent all its time wringing its hands and crying over the litany of poor statistics we are doing something about it. How do we know that? Because this is the fourth Budget in a row that this Government has increased Vote Education—$9.6 billion for 2012-13. Despite the tough fiscal times this Government has invested more because we want to build a brighter future for New Zealanders. We know that early learners who start behind stay behind. We are committed to 98 percent of all new entrants in 2016 having participated in good quality early childhood education. We know that it is more affordable now—32 percent more affordable now—than it was in 2007. We are committed to getting 3000 more early learners into quality early childhood education over the next 4 years so that they can go on to primary school and have the strong platform of general education built there. 
In order to do that we know that one of the characteristics of a high-performing system is good quality data and information. That is why last week I launched the 5-year plan to build Public Achievement Information—that is right Public Achievement Information. It will include but not be confined to national standards. National standards will be core to that because we know that understanding how well our children are doing at school as they are doing it—not waiting until they get to year 9 nor waiting until they get to year 11 or year 12 but much earlier—means that parents can be empowered alongside their children and their teacher to know how they can invest to make a difference. 
 We are not afraid of information. We are not afraid of driving up good quality. We are committed to achievement for absolutely every one of our students. We do not deal with myth and slogans; we deal with an evidence-based approach and quality information is part and parcel of that. We want to work with parents and that is why on the back of this brochure are the five basic questions parents should be able to ask their teacher about how well their child is doing. 
Then on to secondary school where we know that we need to have more and more students—actually about 10000 more over the next 5 years—securing National Certificate of Educational Achievement level 2 or equivalent. Why? Because without it these young people do not have a passport to a quality life and they do not have the learning that allows them to earn. This Government is committed to making a difference. We will not continue to turn a blind eye to the statistics that the previous administration produced in the 9 long years it had to do something about it—but it did nothing. This Government is committed and we know that this should be learner-centred responsive education where the parents are respected. The parents should be respected as companions in this drive to raise achievement for their young people. This Government does not tell them what to do; we work with them so they know what to do. Information does that together with these targets which we are prepared to hold ourselves accountable to. Those targets are—just one more time—98 percent of all early learners going on to primary school having done quality early childhood education and all of our young people through years 0-1 to 8 having quality data and information about themselves so they their parents and their teachers understand.