Pettis Jill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
Pettis Jill: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers Questions to Members 
[Volume:623;Page:18577] 
2.  
JILL PETTIS (Labour—Whanganui) 
 to the  
Associate Minister of Education 
: What action is the Government taking to address public concerns about the administration of last year’s scholarship exams? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE (Associate Minister of Education) 
: 
 Having acted in the interests of fairness and addressed the issue of variability in last year’s scholarship exams by introducing the distinction award the Government’s next priority has been to students who will sit the scholarship exam this year and beyond. I am pleased to be able to tell the House that I am assembling a group of educational practitioners and experts including teachers principals and representatives of the tertiary sector to review and provide remedies to any deficiencies in the scholarship system. That expert group will have 2 weeks to prepare a report including recommended options that I will take back to Cabinet. I know it is not a lot of time but we have teachers and students in classrooms today who need to know the shape of the exams to be held at the end of this year. 
Jill Pettis 
: Can the Minister please advise the House who will form this new review group? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: I will be inviting nominations for one representative from each of the following organisations to sit on that review group: the Secondary Principals Association of New Zealand the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors Committee the Post Primary Teachers Association the Principals Council of the Post Primary Teachers Association the New Zealand School Trustees Association and Independent Schools New Zealand. It will also include two additional principals nominated by me and a person from the wharekura area. They will be assisted by senior representatives from the Ministry of Education and the Qualifications Authority. 
Hon Bill English 
: Why is it that the Minister in setting up a group that is meant to improve the operation of scholarship has appointed a bunch of people who are political representatives of the usual organisations—a group that will be simply taken over by the Qualifications Authority bureaucrats in exactly the same way that all other advisory groups have been taken over? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: The Minister has not and it will not. 
Hon Brian Donnelly 
: Will the Associate Minister confirm that all examination papers would not have had to be recovered as the Prime Minister was led to believe in order to provide statistical moderation of scholarship marks; and if that is the case why was that course of action not taken? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: It is my understanding that the discussion over how—if at all—marks in this year’s scholarship exam can be moderated is still an ongoing statistical debate. 
Jill Pettis 
: Given the Minister’s announcement about the review and the panel can he advise the House whether that is the Government’s only response to concerns about the administration of last year’s scholarship exam? 
Hon DAVID BENSON-POPE 
: No I have also written to the State Services Commissioner Dr Mark Prebble asking him to use his powers pursuant to sections 6(b) and 11(4) of the State Sector Act relating to the performance of Government institutions including the discharge by the chief executive of his or her functions. I have requested that Dr Prebble review the performance of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority firstly in relation to the New Zealand Scholarship examinations in 2004 and more generally in carrying out its functions in the school sector. The terms of reference will be referred to Cabinet this week although I expect them to cover the wider issues of the authority’s role in the educational sector. The priority will be identifying what went wrong with the 2004 scholarship exams.