Street Maryan: Education Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
Street Maryan: Education Amendment Bill — Third Reading 
[Volume:663;Page:10889] 
Hon MARYAN STREET (Labour) 
: 
 I will certainly take up the residual part of my speaking time on the third reading of the Education Amendment Bill. If I remember correctly when I was interrupted by the dinner hour on the last sitting day this bill was on the Order Paper I wanted to talk about two things that were in the bill and one that was not. Labour is supporting this bill. We support information matching between the Ministry of Education and the New Zealand Teachers Council and we do that for a number of reasons. 
First there is the distinct possibility that teachers who have been deregistered have not come to the attention of employing authorities that may be looking to appoint teachers to teaching positions. That information sharing between the register of teachers and the Ministry of Education allows the Teachers Council in regard to people employed in teaching positions to identify the person’s employer and also the person’s registration status which is an essential item for the protection of the quality of teaching in our schools. In addition to that there is a more pedestrian purpose to that matching of information—one that is no less valid—which is the ability of the ministry to identify through that information sharing the accurate and appropriate salary entitlements and eligibility to any allowances to which teachers might be entitled. So we support that information matching and see it on both levels—firstly as a very clear indicator of the quality assurance of staff teaching our children in schools and secondly as I say as a more pedestrian matter but one that is none the less important to teachers in receipt of salary entitlements. 
The second point which is important and which Labour supports entirely concerns the changes that the Education and Science Committee has made to the process around police vetting of all those who have access to students in teaching establishments. The select committee saw fit to shorten the time frame for the police vetting process; I think there is a suitable level of urgency to that as reflected in where the select committee got to. I pay tribute to the chair of the Education and Science Committee and to those who worked on this bill for progressing it to this stage with a useful amendment such as that. 
The one thing I am disappointed about however and I remain disappointed about it is that the National members on the select committee—and indeed the Minister—saw fit not to accept some proposed amendments from Labour members. The amendments arose out of our Education Amendment Bill (No 3) which was in train prior to the last election. One of those amendments was to make it explicit for principals to ensure that their schools provided guidance and career counselling in schools. That is an example of where in fact it would be entirely possible to join the dots of the compulsory education sector with those of the tertiary education sector when the Government is looking to make it harder for students to enter tertiary institutions harder to stay there and harder to access support mechanisms like student loans and allowances in order for them to succeed in tertiary institutions. 
One of the cries that go up constantly is that the young people arriving in our tertiary institutions are not sufficiently prepared and not adequately prepared to make suitable and appropriate decisions about their tertiary study. How can they make appropriate decisions about their tertiary study and have more chance of succeeding in a chosen discipline or degree programme if they are not equipped earlier than that with suitable career-choice advice and career guidance? To make it optional for schools to have guidance counsellors—and that is another whole area in itself—and career counsellors is to deny that these things ought to be joined up. It is in fact to deny a common-sense thing that is provided at low cost through our secondary schools and that can equip our young people in particular to succeed or to do better in their chosen tertiary course of study. It is a shame that that is not included in this final legislation. It is something that would not have caused any major problem. It would be something that the schools that are already doing it could continue to do. The fact that it is not being made explicit in the bill that principals should ensure guidance and counselling on career choices and career pathways is a point of neglect. It is a shame that that has not been included in this legislation. 
The Education Amendment Bill that we are debating for its third reading today makes some significant advances not only in the quality of education but also in the protection of students within the education system. It is a shame. It is short-sighted. It is unnecessarily partisan of the Government not to include the Labour amendments that would have seen career counselling made mandatory and that would have seen an insistence on that counselling being there in the school curriculum. We will never get the kind of quantum leap we need in this economy if we are not preparing our young people through the pipeline of the education system to make appropriate and successful tertiary education and career choices for themselves. Whether or not young people go on to university or a polytechnic into an apprenticeship or some form of trades training or into some other appropriate avenue for further education they should have access at every point in their high school and compulsory education sector training to that kind of advice. It is a matter of regret that that provision is not in this final legislation. Thank you.