Tolley Anne: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Tolley Anne: Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Volume:651;Page:563] 
Hon ANNE TOLLEY (Minister of Education) 
: 
 I move  
That the Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 The Education (National Standards) Amendment Bill implements policy changes that this Government is committed to as part of our priority action plan for education. The National-led Government is absolutely committed to raising education standards. This bill delivers on that commitment by raising standards of achievement and attendance in compulsory education. The bill does two things to achieve that: it gives the Minister of Education the power to set national standards in literacy and numeracy and it strengthens truancy law. At the moment one in five New Zealand children leaves school without the qualifications he or she needs to succeed. 
Our Government wants all children and young people to have the basic skills they need in order to do well at school and to succeed in the workforce. The bill underpins that focus by giving the Minister of Education an explicit power to set national standards in literacy and numeracy. It adds national standards to the National Education Guidelines so that the Minister of Education may publish by notice in the  
Gazette 
 national standards in literacy and numeracy. The introduction of national standards in literacy and numeracy will provide an external benchmark against which to measure student progress. Making that explicit in the National Education Guidelines will sharpen our focus on the improvement of student achievement. 
I want to stress to all involved that this legislation gives the Minister of Education the power to set those standards; the legislation does not itself set the standards. In the new year the Ministry of Education will be leading a consultation round with the wider education sector. At that time the sector will be consulted about the design of the standards the benchmarks that will need to be in place in order for current assessment tools to be used against the standards and the form that reporting to parents to the community and to the Government will take. We have promised that consultation and we are keeping our promise. 
I will listen to the sector as we undertake that consultation. The process will allow the standards to be published late in 2009 and be ready for implementation in schools at the beginning of 2010. The bill also requires school boards to include in their school charters the boards’ priorities and targets for assessing students against national standards. Schools will report on those as part of their normal planning and reporting processes so as not to create more compliance costs. National standards will apply to all State schools in New Zealand and they will apply to students from years 1 to 8. They will provide a set of shared expectations about what students should be achieving as they move through primary and intermediate school. 
Many teachers already know how well their students are doing in their classes. Many teachers already use a range of assessment tools to identify where to focus attention and ensure better progress. Despite the availability of those tools the Education Review Office reported in March 2007 that 56 percent of schools recently reviewed were not using worthwhile achievement data. Our policy will ensure that all schools have that achievement data and the policy will also ensure that they use it to help their students. 
An important point is that parents do not always know how their children compare with others and neither teachers nor parents have a clear picture of how children are doing relative to their peers across the nation. An Education Review Office report published in 2007 found that 49 percent of primary schools were generally ineffective at reporting achievement information to parents and to their community. The aim of this policy is to ensure that parents get that information and that they get it in a form they can understand. The bill provides teachers and parents with certainty about whether a child is reading writing and doing maths at the expected national level. They will also know how many other children are meeting the standard. The standards will not affect those students who are exempt from enrolment in a State school—such as students who are home-schooled—and will not affect students enrolled in private schools as the National Education Guidelines do not apply to them. 
Truancy increased by 41 percent from 2002 under the previous Labour Government. On any given day under that same Government more than 30000 students were likely to be absent from school. Students who are absent from school miss out on class work and are at risk of falling behind. Persistent truants are at serious risk of leaving school without the literacy and numeracy skills they need. Urgent action is needed. Every parent who fails to ensure his or her child attends school commits an offence. If prosecuted parents are liable to a fine. At the moment the maximum fine for a first offence is $150. The maximum fine for a second offence is $400. This bill raises the maximum level of those fines. Parents will be fined up to $300 for a first offence and up to $3000 for a second or subsequent offence. Parents also commit an offence if they fail to enrol their child at school and the level of fine for that offence will rise from $1000 to a maximum of $3000. Although the maximum level of the fine will be $3000 judges will still have the discretion to consider a number of factors when deciding the level of the fine to impose. 
Some members may want the House to consider alternative measures to prosecution and fines. Let me assure members that prosecuting parents is a last-resort intervention used for persistent unjustified and parent-condoned truancy. Prosecution is for when other alternatives fail. 
As well as changing the law this Government will support schools to address issues of truancy. Our election policy outlined additional funding for schools to assist them to deal with truants. The bill allows the Secretary for Education to take prosecutions. The Secretary for Education may assist the school by taking the prosecution. The secretary may also take action if a school does not do so in cases where chronic parent-condoned truancy is identified. 
I ask that this House gives earnest consideration to supporting the two areas that I have outlined: the power to set national standards in literacy and the strengthening of truancy law. This is a priority area for education. It begins the task of raising the standards of achievement and attendance in our New Zealand schools. I commend this bill to the House.