Hughes Darren: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
Hughes Darren: Financial Review Debate — In Committee 
[Volume:671;Page:17478] 
Hon DARREN HUGHES (Labour) 
: 
 Firstly I congratulate the Minister who was previously in the chair Judith Collins on the invention of having the bell not work—presumably she could have talked for ever. That was a good trick and I think everyone should at least try to do that. 
In turning to the financial review of the Ministry of Education can I first of all with your indulgence Mr Chairperson speak outside the period that is under review and thank the Ministry of Education for the work it has done in Canterbury in supporting the schools and early childhood services in that city to get to a state where many have been able to reopen in such a small amount of time. I think all members would like to thank the people in the ministry who have worked to support parents teachers and educators in that respect. 
The period under review is the one where the Government’s flagship education policy was being developed. The 2009-10 financial year was when the national standards policy was being worked through by the Government as the answer to all the problems in primary education. It would be interesting to hear from the Minister an admission that in the end the national standards policy was never actually a policy; it was a slogan. As the work that has gone on in schools since the time of the work the ministry has done in trying to implement national standards has come to pass it is absolutely clear that it was a slogan about something to say on the election campaign trail rather than an actual educational policy that could be introduced. We see that through much of the research that has been done which has come forward to show that the policy is not standing on the merits that members opposite campaigned on at the last general election. 
There is no more clear sign of that than the fact that the person at the Ministry of Education who was charged with implementing the national standards policy has upped sticks and left the position. It is interesting that a policy that we were told was designed to assist parents and was being demanded by parents has been rejected by a number of parents who serve on boards of trustees in New Zealand. There are 300 boards across the country made up of parents that are refusing to implement the national standards policy. That is a phenomenal number of boards made up of parents of children and students in our country who do not believe that this is the right thing educationally for their school. 
Tomorrow’s Schools was about ensuring that schools could fit the delivery of the curriculum in a way that best suited their community. The curriculum document that was developed under the previous Government in a non-partisan fashion has received widespread support across the education sector and from parents who see it as being an innovative and courageous curriculum designed to bring out the best in all of our students. We should have trust in our parents and in our boards to choose a range of assessment tools that are available to them in order to report back against the curriculum. Instead the national standards policy has been imposed on parents boards and schools in the country by the Government in a way that runs totally contrary to the way that the curriculum was developed as a way of unleashing potential in our schools. 
We see it with the way that 500 boards of trustees chose not to lodge their charter with the Ministry of Education this year. These may seem like small things. In fact Anne Tolley described it as a “petty protest”. But they show that committed parents who care about their children’s education enough to serve on boards of trustees are trying to express their frustration that these standards have been imposed on schools untested without research and without the work done on such critical issues as moderation. The Minister during the period of the financial review was very gung-ho about this. She was convinced that she was right. She said that there would be no concessions there would be no trials and that the national standards would be enforced on all primary schools and intermediate schools in the country. That was during the period of the financial year. 
This year John Key the Prime Minister said: “Oh well there have been some major teething problems with the national standards and one of the reasons for that is that the first year was just a trial.” So that reinforces the point that under this Minister’s leadership of the sector education has been allowed to fall into a mess because the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. That is nowhere more obvious than in the implementation of national standards. 
There is another issue I would like to raise because I am sure we will hear about it from Government members and it is that 20 percent of New Zealand children cannot read and write. Government members say all the time that 20 percent of our children cannot read and write at a level that will get them through life and that is why national standards are in force. I would like Government members opposite who say that to let us know whether that is happening in their electorate. Members opposite always tell us how well schools are doing in their electorate yet there is this mythical electorate around the country where 20 percent of children cannot read and write. I am sure if members go on school visits and they see children who cannot read and write they would be very keen to draw that to the Committee’s attention but I guarantee not one member opposite will give us the name of a school in their electorate where 20 percent of children cannot read and write. This is why we think the national standards policy is a mess. It detracts from the curriculum which is an excellent document for transforming the lives of young people in our country.